Karin's Story
by Gingiie666
Summary: my first fic.As Karin's powers grow stonger,who is it who comes after her to steal it away from her? will she go with the stranger who wants to rule the world with her, or will she stay and fight against him? what will happen at the debutant ball?
1. Chapter 1

**Ch 1**

**It was a dark and gloomy morning, a month after the winter war. I told Ichigo that I can see hollows more clearly now and that they were attacking me more frequently while he was away, but it was all okay because Mr. Urahara has been protecting me and everyone else. I asked him later that day if he could teach me how to defend myself for when he is not around. Ichigo had put up a fight about it but in the end he saw that his little sister is in need of defence lessons against hollows. **

**Rukia, who turned out to be a noble soul reaper from the Kuchiki clan is in the 13 guard protection squads. She said that it would be better if we train in the Soul Society; where there are good equipment and training grounds that we can use. That is why I, Karin Kurosaki, is here in the Soul Society on the training grounds. We had started with the basics, but now we are going into wooden sword fighting. Ichigo showed me some stances and techniques to use, whenever he forgot or got anything wrong then Rukia stepped in for a minute to show me the proper way. **

**After many rounds of wooden sword fighting, Rukia suggested a water break. I take off my protective gear; that looks a lot like the fencing gear that I have seen in movies, that Rukia had let me use. I take a swig of my ice cold water, its so refreshing after all that work.**

"**Good job Karin," Ichigo says. "You're really getting the hang of it," he smiles.**

"**Yeah, thanks," I say to him, looking up at the beautiful sunset. It reminds me of Yuzu; of her peaceful personality. It has only been a couple of days and I already miss her.**

**I turn back to Ichigo, he has a worried expression on his face. "I didn't hurt you at all did I?" he asks.**

"**No, not at all. I'm just thinking of home," I tell him.**

**I can see sympathy in his eyes, he knows that I have never been away from Yuzu for more than a night. "We can go back home whenever you want to," Ichigo lets me know.**

**I smile back at him. "Alright, but I want to stay here and train more," I reply.**

"**Hey! Dinner is ready," Kiyone and Sentaro said in unison, making me jump at their silent approach.**

**We all went to squad 13's barracks to eat a sushi dinner. I sat beside Rukia and Kiyone. Kiyone is such a chatter box; she told me many things about the Soul Society, while we were eating. I can't even imagine half of the things she had said.**

**When I was done dinner, I told Ichigo that I wanted to go for a walk, he didn't seem too sure about his 11 year old sister going for a walk by herself in the dark. He decides that it is alright for me to go though, but only because he thought that I would be safe enough in the Seireitei with the 13 guard squads out on patrol.**

**I wasn't paying any attention at all when I bumped into Toshiro Hitsugaya, the captain of squad 10. The first time that I met him was in The World of the Living, when he had helped me and my friends win a game of soccer against middle schoolers. He is wearing the same black kimono as Ichigo is, but he is wearing the white captains coat over top of it.**

"**Sorry," we say at the same time.**

"**It was my fault, I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking," I say to him apologetically.**

**There is a short silence, then he said; "You're Ichigo Kurosaki's sister, what are you doing here in the Soul Society?" he asks with a puzzled look on his face.**

"**Oh, you haven't heard?" when he shakes his head I go on to say, "hollows keep attacking me, so I came here for some defence lessons for when Ichigo isn't around to protect me," I pause. "Captain Ukitake said that it was alright for me to be here."**

**Toshiro looks surprised. " You mean that you didn't sneak in here, that they actually allowed you to come here?" he asks.**

"**Umm, yeah," I say feeling and sounding confused. I mean why wouldn't they let me come here? I don't really have a reason to sneak in here when I could just do some secret training back home.**

"**I'm sorry, what I meant is that Head Captain Yamamoto doesn't really allow humans in the Seireitei. That all kind of changed when Ichigo first arrived here."**

**I thought for a second, piecing a few things together. "Yeah, thinking about it, a lot of things have changed since Ichigo turned into a soul reaper."**

"**Karin, it's -," Toshiro started to say.**

"**Captain, oh Captain!" Rangiku Matsumoto, the lieutenant of squad 10, interrupted.**

"**Captain, I just got a Hell Butterfly that said that there is a captains and lieutenant meeting immediately," she finishes saying.**

"**Let's go," Toshiro took a step towards where squad 1's meeting room is. He stopped to turn back to me. "Nice seeing you again," he smiles. He turned back to where squad 1's meeting room is, him and Rangiku starts to run.**

"**Oh Captain! I knew you were interested in that girl from The World of the Living. Ever since you were stalking her and her friends," I heard Rangiku saying in the near distance.**

"**Rangiku!"**

"**But Captain."**

**Their voices began to fade away as I start to walk around again. I wonder what the meeting is about. I must be pretty important since they had to leave right away, I think to myself. I walk around for a little while longer then headed back towards squad 13's barracks, where I am staying in Rukia's room.**

**A month of training went by really fast. Ichigo said that I have good fighting skills. It turns out that I have a few special powers of my own. I have super kicks; when I kick Ichigo, he goes flying backwards. I can also make little fireballs in my hand. Rukia was amazed, she calls it a kido of some kind. The last power that I have is to stop time. **

**My powers had developed about a week after I came to the Soul Society. Rukia said that the reishi must be involved in it some how. She also said that kido and time stop together will be very useful. When an enemy is about to attack, I can simply concentrate on stopping time for a minute and then harm them by firing my kido at them. **

**In training we mostly worked on making my powers stronger. Rukia said that it would make me stronger if I fought against a bankai. Ichigo hesitates then nods. In a very powerful tone he says "Bankai!" He was in a different black kimono, and his sword is looks different; it is a thin black sword. I can tell that he has been holding back major power, but of course he has been, we only came here so I can train enough so I wouldn't die in a fight against a hollow. **

**I train with Ichigo in his bankai phase for quite a while, stopping time and firing kido at him. Dodging his attacks and blocking them with a borrowed zanpakuto. It was hard to keep up with him, but I managed some how. **

**After training for a few days with a bankai, at the end of the day while we were drinking water Ichigo said to me, " It has been just over a month of training, you have gained many new skills to protect yourself. Lets go home." I nod, I miss everyone; even our very immature dad.**

**Rukia sent word to open the Senkaimon for us. She said that it would take a little while to make it safe for us to travel through the Senkaimon.**

**I decide to go to a meadow that I found when I first came here. When I get there, it is just like the first time; breath takingly beautiful. There are wild flowers and trees full of blossoms everywhere. I decide to sit on the dark green grass and lean against one of the tree trunks. Just as I start to think of all of the things that has happened here; like Ikkaku's lucky fighting dance, I hear a tree branch snap. Somebody else is here, I open my eyes.**

"**Toshiro?" I say surprised. "What are you doing here, is the Senkaimon opened already?" I ask.**

**He looks just as surprised as I am. I guess he didn't know that I was here. "Oh, Karin. I didn't notice you were here. I come here all the time to think," he says. "The Senkaimon," he says thoughtfully. "You're going home so soon?" he sounds like he is a little bit disappointed.**

"**Yup, just came here to train and Ichigo says that I've train enough," I tell him, I decide to change the topic. "What did you come here to think about?" **

**He lies down on the grass near me, and puts his hands under his head as a pillow as he stares up at the cloudless sky. It is silent for a few moments, then he finally decides to talk. "I come here to think about," he pauses. " My squad, how we can improve our skills. I came here to think about my friend, the lieutenant from squad 5, Momo Hinamori, and all of the things that has happened," he finishes.**

**I think for a moment; a big war just ended, something tragic must have happened to his friend. "what happened to your friend," I ask with concern showing on my face and in my voice.**

**He hesitated with an unsure expression on his face. Not sure if he should tell me, or just too painful to talk about.**

"**I'm sorry, I shouldn't snoop into other people's businesses. I didn't mean to pry," I say apologetically.**

**He took a deep breath. "It's fine," he says. "Momo, she has had difficulty accepting the former captain of squad 5's resignation. She has many problems going on. She is doing alright now, or so she is trying to prove. I still think she is having trouble with everything that has happened. It doesn't help that she nearly died in the war, all of us nearly died," he finished saying sitting up looking at me.**

**I have never been good at these kinds of talks. "That must be pretty hard on her, maybe you should give her some space, but if she needs to talk then be there and listen to her to help her feel a bit better," I say to him.**

**He stands up and nods, "Thanks."**

**I stand up when I see something black in the corner of my eye, it's a hell butterfly. It lands on Toshiro's finger, he tells me the message that it tells him. The message says, "The Senkaimon is now safely opened for the Substitute Soul reaper, Ichigo Kurosaki and his little sister Karin Kurosaki."**

"**I guess that's my queue," I say to him. Even though I'm not a huggy person, I surprise Toshiro by quickly giving him a hug. "Good luck," I tell him, and let go. I turn around to go to the Senkaimon. **

**Everybody was waiting for me when I finally arrive at the Senkaimon. Ichigo walks up to me, "Remember to always be looking forward and keep running," he says.**

**I nod, "Lets go." I look back at everyone, "See ya later," I say smiling at them.**

**We stood in front of the Senkaimon for a second more. We run in to the pitch black Senkaimon.**


	2. Chapter 2

Ch. 2

We have been running for what feels like forever. I can finally see some light up ahead. Just a little bit more.

The sun shines into my eyes as we finally arrive back in Karakura Town. I look around to see where we are; we're on a street near Ichigo's high school. As we start walking home, we hear somebody running behind us.

"WELCOME HOME ICHIGO!" Keigo Asano exclaims.

Ichigo simply just put his fist into the air as Keigo runs into it. That's gotta hurt, I think to myself. I can't help but let a little laugh out.

"Hey, Keigo," Ichigo says to him as we continue to walk.

"Ouch! You always do that!" Keigo complained while rubbing his face.

"I'm busy right now, we'll hang out later," Ichigo says to him, sounding like he has said it many times before.

Keigo hangs his head and sighs. "Fiine," he says then turns around to go back to where he came from.

When Keigo is out of hearing range Ichigo says to me, " I'm going to Mr. Urahara's shop for a bit to see if anything has happened. Are you okay to get home?" he asks.

" I think I will go the park for a bit before I go home. My friends might be there," I explain.

Ichigo nods. "Later," he says as we head into different directions.

It is about a 15 minute walk to the park, I enjoy the walk there. I see kids getting hotdogs from a tiny hotdog stand, kids playing jump rope, and a lady reading a book on a bench near the park.

As soon as I arrive at the park, I notice that my friends aren't here. I shrug and go over to the swings; I love playing on the swings.

After a few swings I'm up high, still pumping my legs. I hear a howl and immediately freeze. I slowly look up at the sky to see thousands, no, millions of hollows ripping through the sky.

If I look very carefully, there are a few that look differently from the others. They have pieces of cracked masks on their heads. From what I heard, they are probably arrancars. I have heard stories about how powerful and strong they are, I'm terrified at what they might do.

In the distance I can see Rangiku Matsumoto fighting off one of the arrancars, she is very skilled. In the other direction I can see Renji Abarai, using his bankai powers to get rid of the hollows. He looks like he is having fun, I wouldn't doubt it.

I watch anxiously while they fight. I see Toshiro Hitsugaya fighting against one of the arrancars guys. The arrancar is wearing skin tight black pants and a well fitted navy blue shirt. The cracked mask, even on each side of his head with one long piece sticking down in the back. His eyes are midnight black, soulless. He also has a very spine-chilling smile, he thinks that he will win; I hope he doesn't.

In the other direction I can see Ikkaku fighting against an other arrancar guy. The only thing that I can identify about the arrancar are his very piercing bright green eyes. The fight between them hasn't started yet, Ikkaku is doing his funny looking fighting dance.

I wish them all luck as I go hide under the playground, where I shouldn't be able to be seen but where I can see most of the fights. I know that Ichigo wouldn't want me to be in the middle of it, I am nowhere near as strong as an arrancar. I'd be done like dinner.

I look into Toshiro's direction. His fight is bad, he is all beat up; trying to catch his breath. His face is all blood-spattered.

I look towards Rangiku's fight. She is doing well; she is beat up, but not nearly as much as Toshiro is. I can see the worry in her face for her captain, wanting to help him out.

There was a big crash close by to where I am. I jump, worrying at who it might be. If it is the arrancar, then I could be done for it. But if it is one of my friends, then they could be dreadfully hurt or worse. I hear Rangiku yell out "Captain". It's Toshiro! I look up at the sky to see a smug look on the arrancars face.

I rush over to the now broken wooden bridge where Toshiro had crashed. I panicky throw the wood off of him. When I finally reach him he looks absolutely terrible. He is all bloody and hurt everywhere.

"Toshiro!" I yell hoping that he would move; even just an inch, but he doesn't. I shake him, but he still doesn't move. Finally I put my head on his chest to see if I can hear a pulse, I do. I sigh in relief, just noticing that I was holding my breath. I drag Toshiro to my hide out, where he can lean against a wall, and hopefully doesn't get hurt even worse.

I leave the hide out, it's time to step up. I know that Ichigo wouldn't like it, but too bad for him. I step out into the open with my game face on, holding Toshiro's zanpakuto. I will not loose!

The arrancar laughs. "You have to be kidding me! A mere human child wants to challenge me, Jeremiah Dupree, arrancar 156? This will be like taking candy from a baby," he yells down to me grinning.

"Bring it," I say determined to beat him. I am standing far enough away from Toshiro, so whatever happens it shouldn't affect him in any way.

The arrancar blasts something red out of his mouth, it is like a red beam of some sort. I have heard about it before from Mr. Urahara; it's a cero, it is just like a bomb. I don't have any time to stop it. I jump out of the way, just barely dodging it.

He sends an other cero at me, this time I know what is coming. I close my eyes and concentrate very hard. I picture the cero stopping right where it is, held confined in an ice box. I open my eyes, it is about half way to me but it's not moving. The arrancar is frozen in his place, too. I move a bit to the side, just in case I loose concentration and the cero comes at me again.

Now it think of the tiny powerful fireball that I want to form in the palm of my hand. It slowly forms into a medium size sphere in the center of my hand. I reach backwards; just behind my head, and fling the fireball at the arrancar.

Now that my concentration has broken off, time has started again. I rush to the wooden pile where I found Toshiro. I kick a piece of wood up in front of me, and kicked it as hard as I could, with out breaking it, at the arrancar's head.

Jeremiah Dupree, arrancar 156 looks like he is in shock. He must think that he just released his cero, and how could I possibly dodged it so fast and supplied a counter attack so quickly. That cero probably should have killed me.

My kido hits him in the stomach, while the wood that I kicked at him hits him hard in the face. He goes flying backwards, barely knowing what had hit him. He shakes his head, trying to regain his posture.

"Come down here so we can fight better," I say challenging him. If he comes down here then I will have a better chance at winning.

He takes my bait, coming down to the ground. "This is silly, thinking a child such as yourself could ever beat me," he laughs at me, thinking that he is all high and mighty.

"We will just have to see about that. Now enough talking, let's do this," I say fully on guard, making my way slowly towards him.

I finally lunge at him, using Toshiro's zanpakuto to attack the arrancar. I have watched many sword fighting movies before, and I haven't forgotten any of my training from when I was in the Soul Society. As our zanpakutos collide with each others many times, I notice that both of us aren't getting anywhere with our attacks. As our zanpakutos hit each other one last time, we both jump backwards.

I concentrate on my kido. His eyes widening as the fireball gets bigger each second. I reach behind my head and fling it at him again, this technique makes it a hard blow on the enemy that will make him go in a critical condition.

He tries to dodge it, but it is going to fast for him to move; he's frozen in fear. It smashes right into his gut, right where the last one had hit him. He flies backwards, smashing into a pole and breaking it. He tries to get up, but he can't. This is my opportunity to end it.

I close my eyes and concentrate on stopping time again. I open them, everything has stopped; the breeze, the fights, everything. I walk over to the arrancar, his eyes are closed as if he was in the middle of blinking. Just as if I was gulfing, I raise the blade and let it plunge in a hard rapid swing.


	3. Chapter 3

Ch. 3

I go back to the place where I left Toshiro. It is still a full out battle between the others with the hollows and the arrancars. I'm wiped out from my fight, the kido and time stop tires me out quickly. Both Toshiro and I can not get into an other fight.

When I get to Toshiro, he is still knocked unconscious. Only just a few months before I went to the Soul Society, my friends and I had found a small tunnel that led to an abandoned house. In this condition it should take us about 10 minutes to get there.

I don't bother trying to wake Toshiro up, he probably wouldn't be able to walk even if he did. The entrance is in a hill near by, covered by a boulder. It takes all of my strength to move it. I start to drag Toshiro through the tunnel.

When we finally arrive at the abandoned house, I prop Toshiro against the wall then go in search of things that can help. I find blankets and a pillow, but not a bed. I make a comfy bed out of blankets for Toshiro. I also find a small first-aid kit in a cupboard under the kitchen sink, it will help quite a bit.

I get a bowl of hot water and a rage, and go back to Toshiro's side. I dip the rage in the hot water, rinse it out, and start to clean his wounds. After I dress Toshiro's wounds, I try to find some food that I can make for us. The only reasonable food that I can find are a couple bags of Mr. Noodle and some instant romman. I look in the cupboards for a pot. It's as if the person who had lived here left everything behind except for the furniture.

When the noodles were cooked, I only eat a little bit, Toshiro will need it to get his strength back. When I finish my little portion of noodles, I put the rest of it in a thermos for when Toshiro wakes up.

I wrap an extra blanket around myself as I sit beside Toshiro. My sight goes blurry as my eyes get heavy. Everything goes dark.

I wake up when I hear a gasp and a hiss. I look over to see Toshiro trying to sit up. He is holding onto his stomach, his worst injury.

"Here, let me help you," I offer helping him sit up properly before he can protest. "You can't push yourself, you need to rest to build up your strength," I pause for a moment. "you must be hungry, I made some noodles," I walk to the kitchen to retrieve the thermos of Mr. noodles.

"Thank you," he says taking the thermos.

After he is finished eating, it is as if he has just remembered about his fight with the arrancar. He starts to panic. " I, I need to go," he stutters. "The arrancar is still out there. How am I still alive? I should be dead right now. I didn't kill it. I have to kill it so it doesn't kill anyone," he slowly stands up painfully.

I step in front of him to make sure he doesn't get any further. I put my hands on his shoulder, and look him straight in the eyes. "Whoa, calm down. The arrancar is dead, I killed it. I found this abandoned house before I went to the Soul Society, so I brought you here to heal," I explain to him. "Now lay back down, you have probably reopened your wounds," I give him a gentle push on his shoulders to encourage him to lay back down, he does.

"What am I supposed to do?" he asks more to himself than to me. "I can't just sit here doing nothing," he proclaims sounding helpless. I feel bad for him, he wants to fight and help his friends. But if he goes into battle, then he would die. He is too weak right now, he needs to heal.

He lies back down in the bed that I have made for him. He stares blankly at the ceiling. "You said that you killed the arrancar," he recalls. "How did you do it?"

I explain to him about how I gained powers while I was in the Soul Society. He is surprised, but not as much as I thought he would be. I guess it's not much of a surprise about humans gaining powers. Ichigo's friends Orihime, Chad, and Uryu, all have amazing powers.

Orihime has powers in her two snowflake hair pins. There's Ayame and Shuno for her healing powers. Tsubaki for her direct attack. Baigon, Hinagiku, and Lily as her shield.

Chad's power is all strength. He calls on his power, and it's like he gets armour on his arms. One arm is red, and the other is white. He can stop anything that comes towards him, he can also crush anything.

Uryu is a quincy, he's like Ichigo in a way. He can shoot arrows made from reichi. He can also do something involving a pentagram, that can blow people up. Uryu can do many more things that I do not know about. Quincies kill hollows just like soul reapers do, but they despise each other.

That's it! I can find Orihime somehow and bring her back to heal Toshiro. There is only one problem, I don't know where to start looking for her; she could be anywhere. I guess I could just follow the hollows, she'll be there with her friends to kill them.

I look at Toshiro, sympathy rolls through me. He was there for me when I needed to help my friends. It's time for me to help him help his friends. "Would you like anymore noodles?" I ask him.

"No thanks, they were pretty good," he tells me.

I put my sweater back on, of course one sleeve is always inside out. "Alright, you are too weak to do anything. Just stay here and get more rest," I advise him.

He has a puzzled expression. "Why, what are you doing?"

" I'm going to find Orihime, and bring her back to heal your wounds," I determinedly announce. He grabs my wrist as I start to walk past him. I start to tingle.

"You can't go out there all alone with all those hollows prowling about," he argues. "You're weak, you have used up all of your spiritual energy."

He makes a good argument, but that wont stop me. "I'm still going. We need to help our friends; and like you said, we are in no condition to do so. We need to heal, but it will take too long. We need Orihime to help us, especially you," I argue back.

He sighs, still hanging onto my wrist. "Alright, fine, you win. Stay here for a minute though. Can you pass me my captains jacket please?" he asks releasing my wrist.

I look on the ground for the captains jacket. It is to my left, I crouch down and give it to him. He digs into the pocket for a moment.

"Give me your hand for a minute," he commands, his hand in a fist.

I stick my hand out towards him. I have no clue what he could possibly be holding. He holds his fist above my hand so I wont be able to see what he has, until his hand moves. I feel something small fall into my covered hand. He finally removes his hand, so I can see what he has put there. I stare down at a small beautiful snowflake trinket, that looks like pure ice. I look at him in wonder.

"My grandmother gave it to me for a good luck charm when I was just a boy," he begins to explain to me. "I would like you to hold onto it for a while for me. Just until you get back. It has always brought me luck in the past. I don't want you getting hurt out there," he finishes.

I stare at him in awe, I look down at it in my hand once more. It shines in the candle light. "Thank you," I say looking back up at him. "I will keep it safe with my life," I put the beautiful charm into my pants pocket. I start to pass him again as he grabs onto my wrist once more, making my arm tingle.

"Be careful," he tells me.

I nod with a determined expression on my face. He lets go of me. I walk out of the living room area to find the escape route out of the house. It's time to find Orihime and bring her back to Toshiro.


	4. Chapter 4

Ch. 4

It's only a 5 minute walk through the tunnel to the park, since I don't have Toshiro with me. It's a mess out here, there are broken trees everywhere, and the playground is ruined.

I don't notice a fight near by, but I am still cautious. I duck behind anything I can, just so nobody will see me. I look in all directions before I go to the next place to take cover. It's clear, I'm out of the park now. I go into a bolting run; there isn't anybody around but the faster I get to Orihime, the better. I need her to heal Toshiro, without her, I don't know what kind of condition he will be in. I still have Toshiro's zanpakuto, heavily weighing me down. I may need it in case I run into any trouble.

I look up at the sky to see if there are any arrancars, there is. There is an arrancar fighting Yumichika. It's not the best looking arrancar that I have saw today. The arrancar has blue eyes with shaggy hair the colour of mud, and has scars nearly everywhere. He is wearing a polka doted shirt with gray pants. Half of one of his eyebrows are gone. I can hear Yumichika's voice in my head, lecturing the arrancar on beauty and style. For being a guy, Yumichika sure does worry about being beautiful a lot.

I dive behind a tree, that is still fully intact, before the arrancar could see me. I must not be seen by any arrancars or hollows until I get to Ichigo's friends.

I spot some of the hollows going the same way as I am. That must be where they all are. I start to run after the hollows. I can see Uryu's arrows hitting some of the hollows. I must be close. I can see Renji's bankai, Zabimaru, high up in the sky. Zabimaru's snake like body, standing tall to fire baboon bone cannons at the hollows.

When I had asked Renji about Zabimaru, when we were still in the Soul Society. Renji had told me that a baboon bone cannon is pretty similar to a cero, but it is a bit of a difference. He never told me what the difference was though. He said that he can't tell people all about Zabimaru's secrets, that would just ruin the surprise when he fights.

The baboon bone cannon takes out the first line of hollows. Uryu's arrows takes out the next line. It is amazing how many arrows Uryu can release at once. Chad is next, a bolt of light goes up into the sky, diminishing more of the hollows. It doesn't matter how many they kill, the hollows just keep coming.

I shake my head to get out of my daze, I can see them now. Renji, wearing his black soul reaper kimono. His dark red hair tide into a high ponytail behind his headband, showing his tattoos. He is holding Zabimaru with a serious expression.

Uryu is wearing his usual all white quincy uniform. His cross bracelet hanging down to help him form his bow. His glasses on his serious face reflecting the sun.

Chad's long brown hair hanging in his eyes. He is wearing the high school's uniform beige pants with a black tank top. It's pretty suitable for him, considering that the powers in his arms would probably rip off the sleeves of his shirt. One of his arms red, and the other white.

I finally see Orihime, her snowflake hair pins in her long orange hair. Of course she is wearing a pink shirt, she is always wearing pink whenever I see her. Unless she just came from school, she would be wearing her uniform. She is the only person in the group that isn't doing anything. I dash up to them.

Orihime looks shocked to see me there. "Karin what are you doing here? You should be at home, you know Ichigo will be mad if he finds out," she proclaims concern. She sees the worry on my face. She softly asks me, "Oh Karin, what's wrong?"

"I need your help," I plead. "Toshiro is badly hurt, we need you to heal him. It will take him too long to heal by himself. He may even be too injured to heal at all," I finish explaining with tears in my eyes. She is worried, just like I am. It usually takes a lot to take Toshiro down for long. She looks over to see the others working hard.

"We got this, go," Uryu tells Orihime as he looks at us over his shoulder. He pushes his glasses closer to his eyes as Orihime nods. He turns back to the hollows.

"Come on, it's right by the park," I tell her. We start to run.

I can run faster than Orihime, because of all the running I do for soccer. I have to wait for her near the entrance to the tunnel. When she finally catches up to me, she is panting. "You're an amazing runner, you should try out for track," she advises while she is still panting. She catches her breath, "Okay! Where is Toshiro?"

"This tunnel leads to an empty house, that is where I left Toshiro," I tell her.

"Oh my gosh! Really? I never knew there was such a place!" she is so amazed as if she didn't know about the Soul Society. She wasn't this excited to go there, we never knew that hollows and the Soul Society had existed. I would have guessed that she would be more excited about that instead of a run down empty house.

We walk slowly through the tunnel. It is pitch black, so we had to walk so we wont trip. Orihime doesn't really like it, because it is getting dirt in her new manicured nails.

We reach the tiny door to the house. It's so small that both of us have to bend down to get through it. When we get into the house, we are in an old cellar. I lead Orihime to the living room area where Toshiro is resting. I kneel down beside him. He is asleep and covered in a cold sweat. He looks so innocent and restless in his sleep. I wipe his forehead with a damp cloth. He stirs, and opens his eyes a crack.

"Karin, you're back," he mumbles.

I stare at him in concern. "Shh, rest, go back to sleep. Everything will be alright," I sooth him.

He takes my hand, his is all sweaty. "You came back to save me, thank you," our gazes lock.

"Of course, I wont leave you," I run my fingers through his sweaty hair. He gives me a quick small smile, and falls back to sleep.

Orihime calls her two powers to heal Toshiro. Two little fairies or pixies come out of her hair pins. They put a glowing sort of shield, that covers head to toe over him. It is their healing power. It is amazing! It is as if they are erasing the injuries. Scrapes and bruises faded away until there wasn't anything there. His pale face got some colour back in it, he is looking a lot better now.

I sigh in relief. "Thanks Orihime, I owe you."

"No, no, no. Don't worry about it, I'm glad I could help," she refuses, waving her hands while she closes her eyes and smiles. "I must go now in case I am needed. Toshiro should be fine now, he's in a stable condition," she informs me.

"Okay, thanks again," I say to her as I walk he back to the tunnel. We say our farewells for now, then I go back to Toshiro's side. I don't know what to do, so I put a new cloth on his forehead and lean against the wall. I go off into a daze while I wait for him to wake up.

I look at the walls to see what time it is, there's no clock. It is getting dark outside, so it must be getting late. It will be too dark to walk home if Toshiro wakes up anytime soon. I am sure Orihime will tell my family that I am safe. I'll just stay here for the night.

Toshiro wakes up. He tries to sit up, he does without making any noises of pain. He rubs his eyes.

"Thank god you are alright," I say to him.

"Karin, what time is it?" he mumbles still sounding tired.

"It's nearly dark, the fights have stopped. Everyone is fine, hurt, but Orihime has healed them," I inform him.

"That is good to know," he pauses. "You should be getting home." I shake my head. "It will be too dark to walk home for such a long time. My dad would want me to stay inside, he worries too much. I'll just stay here for the night," I explain to him.

"Where will you sleep?" he asks. I just shrug. "Come on, I'll make some room for you," he starts to shuffle around.

I shake my head and start to back away. He snatches my hand before I can get out of his range. He pulls me closer to him.

"This house isn't heated. You don't want to be freezing all night do you?" he grins, he knows that he has won.

I sigh and lay down beside him. He covers me with the blankets. It is very cozy. I didn't know a bed made of blankets could be so warm and comfy. I yawn.

"Good night Karin," Toshiro whispers into my ear.

"Night Toshiro," I mumble back to him as I close my eyes.

I wake up in the morning to notice that I am cuddling with Toshiro. His face nuzzling my neck and his arm around my waist. I try to slowly move away, but he pulls me back. We stay like this for a little while longer. He moves just slightly, he's awake now. He slowly moves away just in case I am still asleep. I can feel his eyes on me, I twist around to see him staring at me.

"Good morning, did you have a good sleep?" he asks with a small grin.

I blush and look down. "Yeah, umm, pretty cozy," I suddenly remember the beautiful snowflake trinket. I put my hand in my pocket to retrieve it. I look at it in my hand, it is still shiny. I look up and see Toshiro watching me. My face heats up. "Here you go," I slowly and carefully place it in his hand.

"Thanks," he pauses. "For coming back and saving me," he leans in to kiss my cheek.

"Umm, how about some breakfast?" I ask standing up. "I found some instant romman that I can make," I walk to the kitchen while Toshiro stays sitting down in the living room.

I make the romman and give him a bowl. After eating in silence I say, "I should go home, they will be wondering about me." I go into the kitchen to wash my bowl.

He follows me there, and leans towards me to put his bowl in the sink as well. He is really close, somehow he still smells like the woods. "You're right, I should check in with the crew, too," he sighs.

I turn around, our faces are just inches away. I knew he was close but I didn't know he was this close. I am backed up against the counter, I blush. What is wrong with me? I would never blush, and now I am blushing like a mad woman. I can't help it though, my face instantly feels like I have a sunburn . I take a deep breath to calm down, I smell his woodsy smell.

He moves his hand so I can get past him. "Are you done with the blankets now?" when he nods his head I go to the living room to fold the blankets. He comes in behind me, and grabs the opposite side of the blanket. We walk to each other to connect the corners together. We do this to all of the blankets until they are all small enough to be put back into the cupboard where I had found them.

We just stand there for a minute, awkwardly staring at each other. "Lets hit the road," I lamely say. I give myself a mental face palm. He nods, we walk to the cellar where the tunnel is.

In the pitch black tunnel we keep bumping into each other. We always apologize when we do. I feel tingles in my arm whenever we touch, and a little bit short of breath. I try to ignore it. The sun blinds us when we get out of the tunnel. We walk in silence for a few minutes while we go towards my house. I finally ask him, "Where are you going?"

"Everyone will be at Urahara's shop," he answers looking bored. I'm about to say something, but he beats me to it. "I know that there is a short cut, I just feel like taking the longer way," he says practically reading my mind. We walk in more silence.

We arrive at the small gate outside of my house. I can hear Ichigo and my dad yelling at each other again. I bend my head and sigh, the two of them always quarrel. I feel a rough hand go under my chin, and gently lead my head back up. Toshiro moves a stray piece of hair from my face to behind my ear. He grins and opens the gate for me.

"Thanks," I smile back at him.

"See ya later," he closes the gate, and starts walking to Urahara's shop.

I watch him walk away until I can't see him anymore. "Good bye Toshiro," I whisper to the wind. I turn around to go into the house.


	5. Chapter 5

Ch. 5

It has been two weeks since the fight against the arrancars and hollows. Toshiro and the rest of the soul reapers had returned to the Soul Society shortly after he had arrived at Urahara's Shop. It has been a quiet two weeks. There are the usual hollows, but Ichigo and his friends takes care of it all. While they have been doing that, I have been busy with my friends to get ready for the soccer season.

I am gazing out of the class room window for a minute, it's such a boring rainy day. I am sitting in my third period class, waiting for the teacher to start lecturing us. I am sitting in the back left corner, I go back to doodling hollows with razor sharp teeth. My friends are sitting near me, but there is a lone desk beside me. Nobody really likes to sit in the back row except for me and a couple other kids, most of the row is empty though.

My twin sister, Yuzu, is sitting with her girly girl friends at the front of the room. Most people wouldn't even think that Yuzu and I are twins, we are totally different from each other.

Yuzu is a total girly girl with short light brown hair and big brown eyes. She's a great cook and she took over the house chores ever since mom died. She always worries when Ichigo and our big goofy dad get into fights. Yuzu has also mentioned a few times that she wants to be a cheerleader when we get to high school.

I, on the other hand, have shoulder length black hair with really dark brown eyes. I dress like a tomboy, and all my friends are guys who have been on my soccer team in previous years. I can see hollows and spirits while Yuzu cannot, she doesn't have enough spiritual power to see them. I love to play pretty much any sport, and I think it would be cool to be a pro soccer player.

I notice that the teacher is about to say something. I glance up at her, I see that there is an excited expression on her face. I look back down at my desk, and scowl at my doodles.

"Good morning class! I have some exciting news for you. A new transfer student will be joining us," she informs us with a lot of enthusiasm. Instantly a hushed whisper spreads throughout the whole class room.

I zone out, I'm so engrossed in my drawing now that I don't even hear her introducing the new kid. I feel the new kid sit in the only available desk, that happens to be the desk beside me, the others were filled up by other people's bags.

"Looks like we are classmates now," he says in a low mumble.

Am I going crazy, or is it who I think it is? I look over to the desk next to me, to see Toshiro grinning at me. Everyone is still talking about his arrival, so I hadn't heard my friends greet him. "Hey," I smile back at him.

"Alright class, back to work now," our teacher orders us. The class goes nearly silent to do our homework, except for a couple whispered conversations.

The end of the day bell rings, everyone gets out of the door as fast as they can. I take my time packing up my homework. I see Yuzu waiting just outside the door for me, talking to her friends.

I see Toshiro finishing up his homework. He looks up at me, "See ya later," he says with a mischievous grin,

"Later," I reply walking out of the almost empty class.

When Yuzu and I get home, we find a small note on the fridge. It read: "Karin, Yuzu, my two little hens, daddy has gone to a meeting. I won't be back until late. Make sure you be good girls and do your homework. Daddy Loves You!" I sigh as I crumple it up and threw it in the trash. We have a goofy moron as a father. He usually leave note worse than this one.

I'm just about to go upstairs to my room, when I hear Ichigo and his friends come in. I go to the door to tell him about dad's note. I see the soul reapers Rukia, Renji, Rangiku, Ikkaku, Yumichika, and Toshiro. All of them, except for Toshiro, are wearing the high school's uniform.

"Where is Yuzu?" Ichigo asks me after I tell him about the note.

"Up in her room," I tell him.

"Okay, here's what is going on," he begins. "They're here for a mission, of course, but it might take a while. They need a place to stay for the time being. Rangiku volunteered to stay with Orihime since they stayed together before. Renji, Ikkaku, and Yumichika will be staying with Keigo, they have also stayed there before as well. So that leaves Rukia and Toshiro to be staying here with us," he finishes informing me.

I nod. It doesn't matter to me at who stays here and who doesn't. "I assume that dad won't know about this?" I ask even though I know what the answer is.

"No, he won't," Ichigo replies.

I knew it. "okay, come on Rukia, I'll get you bed ready," I start to walk towards the stairs.

"Umm, Karin, there's something that I have to tell you," Rukia says stopping me at the foot of the stairs. "I'm not staying in your room. I already have Ichigo's closet how I want it to be from before. You're rooming with Toshiro," she tells me.

I'm flabbergasted, but I try to hide it. "Umm, okay, well I'm going to do the rest of my homework now," I let them know. I walk up the stairs and turn to the left, my room is the second door. I lay on my bed thinking, "what am I going to do?" I take my math homework out of my bag, and start to do it.

I'm putting my finished homework back into my bag, when I hear a quiet tap at my door. I open it to see Toshiro standing there, with a small sheepish grin. I step aside and open the door wider so he can come in. we can't say anything while he's in the hall, because Yuzu would hear us, her room is right across from mine.

He walks in with his hands in his pockets, his thumbs sticking out. He looks around to take everything in. "I can ask to switch with Rukia, if you'd like," he offers.

I pick up a soccer magazine and lay back down on the bed. "Nah, that's okay. There is a mattress and bedding in the closet for you," I pause. "You can stay in here if you want, or I can show you some other spots in the house."

He slides the closet door open, and plops down on the mattress. "I think I'll just say here, if that's alright with you. I wont be seen in here," he adds.

It's silent for a few moments, except for the noise of my magazine when I flip to the next page. "Soccer try outs are tomorrow after school. Are you going?" I ask him.

He shrugs. "Not sure, I was thinking about it, but I might not be here for long."

His cell phone, beeps, it's also a hollow tracker. He bolts up right. "Hollows," he says. He turns back to his soul reaper form, leaving his gigai behind on his bed. He runs across the room to the room to the window, and jumps out of it.

I go to the window to make sure he is alright. I see him running on top of the houses. He disappears, he must have used flash step to get to the hollow faster.

After dinner, I'm alone in the kitchen doing the dishes. When I'm finished, I sneak some leftovers onto a plate. I quietly tip toe up the stairs. I don't see Toshiro in my room at first sight, but he is probably in the closet. I give the closet door one quiet tap.

"Yup," I hear Toshiro mumble. I slide open the door to see him changing into a new shirt. I glance down at the ground for a second then look back up.

"I brought you some food, it's still warm. Yuzu is a great cook," I say giving him the plate of delicious looking food.

I go to my dresser to get my snowflake pj shorts and my old soccer shirt. I walk out of my room to go to the washroom, beside Yuzu's room, to go change and brush my teeth. I saunter back to my room. I look over to Toshiro, his hands under his head. He looks like he is in a deep thought.

"Do you have enough blankets?" I ask him. I turn on the small lamp beside my bed.

"Yes, I have plenty thanks," he assures me. He looks over to see what I am doing.

I walk back over to the door to turn the light off, there's still a faint glow from the lamp. I can still feel his eyes on me when I get into bed. When I reach over to turn the lamp off, I look at him, our eyes lock. I turn off the lamp, still looking over at him even though I can no longer see him.

"Toshiro?" I ask into the pitch black.

"Yeah?" I can hear the tiredness in his voice.

"I think you should try out for soccer tomorrow. You're a great player," I tell him.

"I'll think about it," I can hear the smile he has as he talks, even though the tiredness covers it a bit.

I yawn, "Good night," I mumble to him.

"Good night Karin. Sweet dreams."


	6. Chapter 6

Ch. 6

I'm on the field after school, in my soccer practise clothes. There's not that many kids here, but there is just enough for a team. I walk over to my friends, they are excited for the new soccer season. I look around to see if I can find Toshiro coming, but I don't.

"Alright kids, we are going to play a game so I can observe your skills." when coach Sotomaru I done picking teams she says, "Okay, show me what you got!"

"Sorry I'm late, can I still try out?" everyone looks over to Toshiro.

"You're just on time. You can be on the red team, go get a pinny," coach says enthusiastically.

I silently laugh. This is going to be fun, cause I'm on the blue team. Toshiro looks at my blue pinny, and gives me a wolfish grin. We all take our positions, I'm a forward while my friends are defence. Toshiro is also a forward. The coach blows her whistle, and the game begins.

The red teams' Makoto is dribbling the ball slowly towards my team's goalie. I go up to him, and kick the ball away. I turn around to go towards the red goalie, I pass the ball to Tsubasa. He had the ball for a minute, then passed it back to me.

I'm about to kick the ball into the goal, but Toshiro comes up and blocks my kick. He kicks my foot back to make the ball go through my legs. He goes around me to retrieve it, I go after him. I just about get the ball back, but he kicks it up to bounce it on his knee. He bounces it higher, twists his body, and kicks it. It flies above Tsuyoshi's head, Toshiro has put in the red team's first goal.

The game goes on for a while. The coach Sotomaru blows her whistle for us to stop. The score is 5 - 4, Toshiro's team winning. We all gather in the middle of the soccer field.

"Lets call it for the day, red team wins. You all did a great job, everybody has made the team!" she exclaims. A bunch of people hi-5 each other. "One more thing before you all go home. Practises are on Tuesday and Thursday after school. When it comes time for games they will be on Fridays. That is all." We grab our bags, and start to walk home.

When we get home, I take a shower. I leave the water on for Toshiro when I'm done, it's less suspicious. I realize that I have forgotten my hair brush and my precious bracelet that mom had given me, in the washroom. I give the door a quiet tap, I only hear the water running. I quietly open the door, and go inside.

"It's just me, I just forgot something," I explain to him.

Someone knocks on the door. "Karin, it's Yuzu, can I come in for a minute?" she asks.

"I'm almost done, Yuz. Can you wait for a little bit longer?" I silently plea that she will wait.

"But I'm going out with my friends. They will be here any minute, and I still have to do my hair," she explains in a whiny tone.

The door knob starts to turn, there's nowhere to hide. I quickly get into the shower, and clasp my hand over Toshiro's mouth. He has a stunned expression on his face. I mean of course he does, anybody would be shocked to have someone randomly join them in the shower.

"I'll be out in just a minute. I just have to get a hair pin," Yuzu says cheerfully. There is a moments pause while she does her hair. Toshiro and my eyes lock, his eyes are so intense. I'm getting soaked. "Okay, I'm done now. See you later," she says closing the door behind her.

I get out of the shower. I grab an other towel, and dry off. I start to leave, then I notice that I had almost forgotten my brush and bracelet again. I pick them up, and hurry to my bedroom.

Toshiro and I don't talk for most of the night. He is in the closet with the door open, laying on his bed. He has a bored expression while he reads a novel. I am on my bed, looking at my bracelet. I never wear it anymore, but it is usually in my pocket.

"Are you alright?" Toshiro asks. "You have been twirling that bracelet around for 15 minutes now," he looks over at me, I can feel his intense eyes.

"I'm fine," I reassure him still looking at all the charms on it. It's a beautiful silver charm bracelet, that my mother had given to me when she was still alive. It consists of unicorns, seahorses, dolphins, hearts, and stars. Yuzu has one similar to it, but it is a bit different.

"May I see it?" he asks politely. I nod and hand it over to him. He looks at all of the charms, carefully inspecting each one. It is very exquisite, why don't you wear it?" he questions me handing it back.

I think for a moment, trying to figure out what exactly to say. "I'm not that same little girl who will wear jewellery, like I once did. A lot of people think that I am tough, they would laugh at me for wearing something with unicorns. It would also get in the way of playing sports. I usually keep it in my pocket though," I pause. "When it's with me, it feels like she is right there," I explain. "You're the only one I've told about it."

"You should wear it sometime," he suggests. "Anyways, it's getting late. We should go to bed."

He's right, I reach over to turn off the lamp. I wait and watch him as he puts his bookmark into his novel. My face heats up from the memory of the shower. He puts his book down beside him, and I turn off the light.

"Night Toshi," I say realizing that I accidentally called him by his secret nickname that I have given him.

I can hear his smile when he speaks, "Good night Karin."

In our afternoon class, our teacher surprises us. "There is going to be a Debutant Ball in a couple of months. There must be girls from each class, and of course there must be White Knights as well," she informs us. "There is a sign up sheet for those who would like to participate."

I eye the sign up sheet until a paper ball lands on my desk. I looks around to see who threw it to me. Toshiro is over acting innocent to let me know that it is from him. I unfold the paper ball. It reads 'Why are you staring at the sign up sheet so intensely?' I write back to him, 'I'm signing up, that's why.' I pass it back to him.

After he reads it he looks over to me, both eyebrows raised. I just shrug back at him. He bends his head down while he writes back to me. He passes me the note when our teacher is looking the opposite way. His reply is, 'You know what it means right? It's all acting lady like, ball gowns, and dancing.'

I'm just about to write back, when I notice that the teacher is walking around to make sure that everyone is writing down the notes from the board. I quickly jaunt them down. Toshiro has already written down the notes.

When the teacher passes me, I take out our note. I write, 'What, you don't think I can do it? Anyways, my mom was a debutant.' I pass him the note, but all he does is look at me. He doesn't write back, I wonder what he is thinking.

After school, I wait for everyone to leave before I get up from my desk. I walk up to the front of the class, and sign up to be a debutant. I read the names to see who else has signed up. Of course Yuzu and her friends are the firsts to sign up. I also notice some of the guys from soccer has signed up to be white knights, including Toshiro.

It's Wednesday, so I don't have to rush to practice. I take my time walking home by myself. Yuzu went to the mall with her friends, and Toshiro disappeared. He must have gone on duty or something.

As I am walking home, I hear a howl. It's a hollow, I race towards it. It looks like a giant gruesome bug. I sneak up behind it, concealing my spirit energy. I jump into the air right above its head, and smash my foot down. It plunges into the ground hard, face first.

It gets up slowly while I form a fireball in my hand. I leap to the side of its neck. I keep the fireball firm in my hand, and hit the hollow as hard as I can with it. I quickly jump back in case it tries to kill me before it disappears into thin air.

I hear somebody clapping, I turn around to see a good looking guy step out from behind a tree. He must be 17 years old, or at least that's what he appears to be. He has blonde hair that goes slightly into his dark blue eyes. He is wearing a green short sleeve shirt with dark blue skinny jeans.

"Who are you?" I demand to know.

"I am your worst nightmare, Haruki Nakaie. You must be Karin Kurosaki, I reckon. It is nice to meet your acquaintance," he slightly bows.

"How do you know my name?" I ask.

"I know many things about you that you wouldn't think I knew," he response. "I know that your mother was devoured by the Grand Fisher. I know why the hollows attack you, forcing you to flee to the Soul Society to get stronger. That there are 6 soul reapers, a substitute soul reaper, a quincy, and 2 other beings with powers here." He walks around me, eyeing me like a vulture does to its prey. "Tell me Karin, does your father know that the young Captain Hitsugaya is staying in your bedroom? You've also had a couple, interesting encounters with him, did you not?" he pauses. "I know what will become of your life."

My face starts to go red from anger. "What are you up to?" I demand.

He reaches out his hand to try to stroke my hair. I slap his hand away, and glare at him. "That, my little Tiger Lily, is for me to know and you to find out. I shall go now, the young captain is on his way," he flash stepped too quickly for my eyes to follow.


	7. Chapter 7

Ch. 7

Toshiro flash stepped out of the trees, and stood right in front of me. "Karine, are you okay? I felt your spiritual power flare up," he says with concern in his voice.

I'm still mad about how much that guy knows about me. I try to calm down and compose myself. "Oh, it's nothing," I fake smile. "There was a hollow, so I fought it. That's all." I don't want to worry him about the strange guy who threw me off guard. "So, you signed up to be a white knight huh?"

We start walking home. "Yeah, even though the soul's memories get erased once they enter the Soul Society, I can still remember, some of mine. In my human life, I remember going to Debutant Balls each year. I remember enjoying them and having fun." we arrive at my house, and stop talking so nobody would overhear us.

It has been a month since my "nightmare" had shown up. Nothing out of the ordinary has happened, yet. Hopefully he'll just keep his distance, and forget the reason why he is here. I wonder how he knows all that stuff about me. He couldn't have been spying on me, he knows about my mother and that happened years ago.

Soccer has been going pretty good. We are all improving in each practise. Soccer games will be beginning pretty soon. Coach Sotomaru said that the games will start soon after the Debutant Ball.

Every day, a half an hour before school ends, who ever signed up for the ball gets to go to the gym for lessons. We have practised curtsying/ bowing, manners, and dancing. The dancing looks easy, but it's just not for me. There are only a few proper dances that we do, but I keep messing up the steps and stepping on my partner's feet.

After school, I am doing homework. Dad is at another late meeting, while Ichigo and Yuzu are out with their friends. I put my homework aside, and get up to practise the dance steps. I'm in the middle of a dance, when Toshiro comes in through the window.

"Practising the dance steps, huh?" he smirks at me.

"Pfft, as if," I try to play it cool. The song on my ipod dock changes to You and I Tonight by Faber Drive.

Toshiro lets out a quiet sigh. "Here, I'll help you," he takes my hand and pulls me closer to him. We are now only inches apart. "It's all quite simple, you see? Just let the guy lead, and don't step too quickly or close. Try not to look down at your feet either."

After I step on his feet a few times, I think I have the hang of it. We waltz around the room, laughing and having fun. It's the first time I see Toshiro with a genuine smile on his face. His laugh, a great sound that roars out of his chest, past his lips. His beautiful daring teal eyes, sparkling when he smiles his toothy smile.

The song ends, and changes to I'll Be There, a song also by Faber Drive. I start to pull away, but Toshiro pulls me back to him. We start to dance again, but it's different, it's not the waltz.

"This isn't -," I start to say.

"Just go with it," Toshiro says, interrupting me.

We rock side to side for a minute, then he pushes me out, still holding onto one of my hands. I spin, he pulls me back, making me spin again to have my back to him. He shift side to side, once, twice. He spins me out, and pulls me back so I am facing him again.

When the song ends, he makes us do the dip. Surprise written on my face, I wasn't expecting it. He pulls me back up. Our faces only inches away from each others, our eyes locked. We are still in dancing position, my hand on his shoulder while the other one is holding his hand, his hand that's not holding mine is on the middle of my back.

We hear the downstairs door slam shut. Somebody is walking up the stairs. Is it Ichigo? Yuzu? Or my dad? "Karine, is that you who is home?" It's Yuzu, she could just be going to her room, but there is a possibility of her coming in here.

I start pushing Toshiro to the closet. He still has my hand, he pulls me towards him, and leans down to kiss me. The kiss is sweet and gentle, perfect. I shut my eyes and lean in, wanting more. Only to find that he has disappeared. The closet door closing as my bedroom door opens.

Yuzu walks in chattering about something, but all that I can focus on is the thought that he has just kissed me, my first kiss. I touch my lips in awe.

"Karine, are you listening to me?" Yuzu asks looking worried.

"Sorry Yuz, what were you saying?"

"I was asking if you wanted to help me with dinner," she says.

"Uh, yeah, sure," I walk out of the room, and down to the kitchen in a daze.

Dinner passed in a blur, I'm too distracted by the kiss. Soon it's time to go to bed. I almost forget to bring Toshiro a plate of food. I open my door slowly, not knowing what to anticipate for.

I close my door. When I turn around, I see Haruki Nakaie, aka my "nightmare." He is on my bead, leaning against the head board with his hands under his head, and his legs crossed at the ankles.

"What the heck are you here for?" I quietly hiss at him, not wanting anybody to hear us.

"Is it not obvious? I am here for you, my sweet buttercup," he flashes me a cheesy grin.

"Where is Toshiro?" I ask, my anger starting to flare up.

He waves his hand as if it is a dismissive topic. "The Captain," he spits out the word in disgust. "Is out fighting my hollows so I can talk to you."

"Why me?" my glare on him intensifies.

His grin turns from cheesy to mischievous. "Your powers are far greater than you know. I want you to come with me, and be my Queen of Darkness. We can rule the Soul Society, and with that, we can rule the world."

Is this guy for real? Queen of Darkness? What a stupid name. "Pfft, pah-lease, as if I'd ever want to me your queen. I'm more for the light instead of the dark anyways," I scowl at him, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Awweh, sweetie pie, don't be like that," Haruki fake pouts. He puts his hand on my shoulder, I smack it away.

My scowl deepens. "Get out of here," I say through my teeth. Im getting angrier by the second.

He sighs looking disappointed, but it's as if he expected this. "Very well my beautiful daisy. I'd just like to say one more thing," he takes a dramatic pause. I almost yell at him to spit it out already. "You better watch out at the ball," he finally says. "There's going to be, a little surprise, that will make you want to be my Queen of Darkness. Fare well my fair maiden." he goes to the opened window just about to leave, when he looks back at me. A mischievous grin playing on his lips, and an evil glint in his eyes.

It's getting late, and Toshiro still isn't home. I'm starting to get worried, he has been gone since before dinner. What is one of Haruki's hollows got him. No, it's impossible for just a hollow to take down a soul reaper at a captain rank. I got to the window to see if I can spot him. It's too dark out, I can only see the bit of the street where the street light hits it. I open the window for Toshiro, for when he is finished and comes back. I get into bed, and drift off to sleep.

I feel a slight breeze, I'm still mostly asleep. I shiver, most of my blankets are off, but I'm too tired and asleep to reach by my feet to get them. All of a sudden, I feel the blankets up by my shoulders. I stop shivering, basking in their warmth. I feel a slightly cold hand move my hair out of my face. I open my eyes a crack, it takes a lot of effort. I see Toshiro going to the closet. "Toshiro," I mumble, but it probably just sounded like gibberish. I close my eyes, and instantly fall back to sleep.

I am in a tall tower in a castle. The door is locked from the outside, with two guards making sure I don't try anything. There are bars on the window, to make sure I don't try to climb out.

I'm grasping the bars, staring out into town, where everything is hectic and wrong. I'm crying, but I won't make a sound. I won't let him know how painful this is to me.

Buildings are on fire, people are running for their lives. The thunder making people jump out of their wits. The lightning setting more things on fire. Hollows chasing souls, eventually catching and eating them. I'm practically forced to watch and hear the screaming, the deaths. There's nothing I can do to stop this madness. The soul reapers, fighting for all the lives. The lives the Soul Society, and the live here in the World of the Living. Many of them dying a slow terrible death.

I hear somebody running in the hall. Their feet hitting the pavement hard and loud. "Karine! Karine! Where are you?" Toshiro yells.

"Toshiro! I'm here! I'm in here!" I shout back to him, pounding my fists against the hard wooden door. His voice giving me hope.

I hear swords clashing together. I step away from the door. There's a thud on the ground outside the door, then another thud. Two of the three people died. I pray it's not Toshiro. There's bangs on the door, the one who is alive is trying to break the door down. I slowly back away some more. There's a final bang, the door bursts open.

"Toshiro!" I exclaim, happy that he is alive.

"Karine, I`m so happy to see you a-" he falls to his knees. Haruki Nakaie is standing behind him, the point of his sword is covered in Toshiro`s blood. Toshiro presses his hand to his stomach, he flinches, pulling his hand away, it is covered in his blood.

"Hahahahaha! Time to die Toshiro Hitsugaya," he raises his sword, it starts to descend.

"NO!" I scream in devastation. Toshiro`s head goes rolling past me.

There's hands on my shoulders, shaking me. I bolt upright, clinging onto Toshiro tightly. Tears rolling down my cheeks. Toshiro holds onto me, cradling me while he strokes my hair. In a hushed voice he sooths me, trying to calm me down.

I finally calm down, realizing that it was just a terrible nightmare. Toshiro is alive and well. I stop clinging on to him, but I won't let him go.

He pushes me arms length away. Concern written all over his face. He just knows that I don't want to talk about it. "Try to go back to sleep. I`m right here, nothing will happen to you," he reassures me.

It's him I`m worried about though, not me. I nod, and lay back down. Toshiro stands up to go back to the closet. I catch his hand before he can get any further. "Toshiro," my voice cracks. He turns back to me. I clear my throat before I continue. "Can you stay here, by my side?" I ask him, pleading with my eyes.

"Of course, I'll just bring out the mattress," he smiles sweetly to me, concern still showing in his eyes.

Before he can turn again I say, "No. I mean, beside me," I move over to the other side of the bed, leaving enough space for him.

His eyes widen in shock for a moment, but quickly turns back to normal. "Of course," he smiles sweetly at me again, and gets into bed with me.

I curl up to him, my head resting on his chest and his arm wrapped around me. It's silent, all I hear is us breathing and his heart beat under my ear. I slowly fall back to sleep to the sound of his heart, feeling safe.


	8. Chapter 8

Ch. 8

As the days get closer to the ball, I get more and more nervous. I have no clue what Haruki is going to do, I'm getting paranoid. Whenever my mind wonders off, I end up thinking all of the terrible things that he could be planning. I don't want my nightmare to come to life. I'll do anything to prevent something like that from happening.

I need to focus though, soccer and the ball are more important. Maybe he's bluffing, maybe he isn't even real, maybe I'm just going crazy. Either way, I still need to focus. Toshiro continues to help me with the dance steps. Some nights, he joins me in bed, helping me drift off to sleep.

In our English class, we have to write an essay on one of our favourite memories. I have decided to write about the day that I got my bracelet.

flashback

It was a warm sunny mid July morning in Karakura Town. It just so happens to be mine and Yuzu's birthday. We woke up that morning to a pancake breakfast that our mom had made. Her long wavy honey golden locks fell perfectly to frame her face. Her dark violet eyes shone when she saw that we had arrived in the kitchen.

Ichigo was already at the table. His bright orange hair, always sticking up everywhere. He had the biggest boyish grin on his face. "Happy birthday Karin and Yuzu!" Back then, Ichigo was always happy and smiling. But ever since our mothers death, he just always scowls. It was our mother who would always brighten up our days, and sometimes our father as well.

Our father came into the kitchen, it looks like he is doing the crab walk on his feet. He had his hands clasped above his head, and wiggles his head side to side between his arms. He was, and still is, such a goofball. When he finally stopped that, he came over to me and Yuzu and gave us a bear hug. "Happy birthday my two little hens. I can't believe that you are already four years old!" he had fake tears in his eyes when he had let us go.

After breakfast, we all went into the living room to open up our presents. One of our presents looked similar to each other's. We decided to open that present last together. We were right, that present was pretty similar to each other's. Yuzu's was a beautiful silver bracelet. It had charms all over it. It had teddy bears, hearts, shoes, and more. Mine was also a beautiful silver bracelet, but mine had unicorns, hearts, stars, and dolphins on it.

End of flashback.

We were all so happy back then. It was our best birthday. Back then, when mom was still around, it felt safe, like anything could happen, but it would still be alright. I keep that bracelet with me almost all the time. When it's with me, I feel like she is there with me, too. It's like the bracelets are good luck charms for us, like she believes in us, like she smiles down at us.

I look around the class, people are still trying to figure out what they should write about. I look down at my now finished essay. I reread it to see if I have missed anything, I haven't.

I look beside me to see if Toshiro is finished writing his essay, he is. He must have felt my gaze, because he looks up to see me staring at him. He raises his eyebrow in curiosity. I turn away to look out of the window. I can feel my face getting hotter. We have been, getting closer these days.

I turn back to Toshiro, he is fidgeting, which is weird because he never fidgets. "Can I read your essay?" I ask him. He passes me his paper without saying a word. His essay is about the snowflake trinket that his grandmother had given him. I smile as I read it, it's a cute story. I give it back to him, he doesn't even ask to read what I have written.

I walk home alone again. Yuzu went with her friends again, while Toshiro is on his duty, looking for whatever the reason he is here for. I go through the park that is still a disaster, it's a short cut to the house. That's when I feel his presence. I keep walking even though I know he is there somewhere behind me. I sigh, "What do you want Nakaie?"

He gives up, flash stepping to get beside me, keeping up to the pace at which I am walking at. "Hello there, my little Sugar Plum. How was your day at school?" he does his cheesy grin again.

I keep looking serious, still walking in the direction of my house. "That does not concern you, and stop calling me those names. Now, tell me, what do you want?"

He doesn't even hesitate. "I want you and your power, of course. I came to give you one more chance to change your mind. Come be my queen," he offers once again, with a powerful tone.

"No thank you." I reply snobbishly to him.

His face starts to get red with anger, his eyes narrowing into a glare. "Ugh! You are so difficult! I offer you the world, to be queen, and you refuse? You can have anything you want, and you still refuse?" he stops shouting at me. At this point, we have stopped in the middle of the field. In a dead serious scary calm voice he says, "Mark my words, something will happen that you won't like. You won't notice until after it has happened. You will be my queen," he puts emphasis on "will". He gracefully does a bow, and with that, he flash steps away.

I start walking home again. I turn my ipod on, turning the volume up nearly full blast. I have my soccer ball in my hands, I decide to put it on the ground and dribble it home. The song that is on is really good, especially the beat. I can't resist dancing to the beat as I dribble my way home.

Just as I was putting my homework back into my bag, I hear Yuzu come into the house panicking. I walk downstairs to see what all the commotion is about. Pots and pans were on the oven while homework was scattered on the table. I see, she usually finishes her homework at school, but today she didn't. she must have forgotten that she still had to do some of it.

"Oh my, Karin! Please help me. I have to do homework and all of the chores."

I start talking before she can say anything else. "Yuzu, calm down. I'll do the chores, but you have to cook. You know how awful I am at it," I tell her. The last few times I've tried to cook, it was either burnt, not good, or nearly burnt down the house.

Yuzu hugs me gratefully. "Oh, thank you Karin!"

When she lets me go, I go find the cleaning supplies. I start with dusting the pictures and the shelves. They are barely even dirty, Yuzu does a good job. I notice that everything that I clean, are already clean from the previous day. I give Yuzu a lot of credit for this. She's always up on her toes, keeping on top of the house work, even though she is out with her friends most days.

I finally finish all of the chores, when Yuzu calls me for dinner. It's very delicious, I can only imagine what it would have been like if I was the one who had cooked. I volunteer to do the dishes, it's the only way I could think of to bring Toshiro some food.

I put the plate on a stool by the closet. Even though it is cold by the time he eats it, the plate is always empty in the morning.

Toshiro has been staying out late to fight the hollows. Ever since I rejected Haruki Nakaie the first time, the hollow ratings have increased. The hollow frequency has doubled in the World of the Living, especially here in Karakura Town, or as I now call it, the Hollow Hell Mouth. Maybe Haruki really is controlling them.

I swat the idea away. It's getting late. I get ready for bed, and open the window for Toshiro like I usually do. It's a beautiful night. It's warm with a slight breeze dancing about. There's a full moon that casts a glow on the clouds that barely cover it. The stars shining, lighting up the black and dark blue sky.

I decide that I want to climb out of the window, onto the roof to star gaze. I go to my bed to get a blanket just in case I get cold. I climb out of the window, making sure that I don't trip on the blanket. I lay down in front of the window, and stare up into the lovely night sky. I'm there for what seems like hours, but couldn't have been. My eyes get heavy and sore, but I can't get up, it's like there is something forcing me to star there. I close my eyes, they are just to heavy. I want the soreness to go away. I fall asleep.

I slightly wake up when I feel something under me, I feel like I'm floating. There are hands under my legs and just below my shoulder blades, Toshiro must be home. Automatically, I wrap my arms around his neck, and rest my head on his chest.

He gingerly lays me down on the bed. I don't want to let him go, so I keep my hands locked behind his neck. I barely have any strength since I am so tired. It is no trouble for him to get away. He pulls the covers up to my shoulders. Shortly after, maybe five minutes, I feel him come into bed. He faces my back, and puts his arm around my waist. I smile at the fact that we cuddle quite a bit. That is how we sleep all night.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Sorry for the wait, I was having a bad case of writers block. Please review and tell me your thoughts and opinions on it. Hope you enjoy J

Ch. 9

It is now only a week until the ball. I still haven't gotten my dress or accessories yet. Yuzu is making me go shopping with her tomorrow, it's the weekend so we will go whenever Yuzu makes me.

I still haven't told anybody about Haruki Nakaie. I think I will tell Toshiro tomorrow after I go shopping with Yuzu, I'm so glad that her friends aren't coming with us. At least when I tell him after I get my dress, he won't be able to try to persuade me not to go. I am going to get a ball gown that will make him go nuts.

Ichigo keeps arguing with our dad about the debutant ball. He says that her doesn't want "any boy ogle or have their grubby hands all over his little sisters". Dad tried to ignore Ichigo, but then his voice bursts out of his chest to argue back. Dad argues back saying that our mother had been a debutant, and any boy who is a white knight must be a respectable young gentleman.

I wake up in the morning to Ichigo and dad arguing again. Dad must have woken Ichigo up by trying to kick him, dad says that it's to make sure he is always on guard. I groan to the noise, not wanting to get up. I cuddle closer to Toshiro, not wanting to leave his side.

"Karin, get up so we can go to the mall!" Yuzu exclaims while knocking on the door.

I know what is next. I quickly turn in Toshiro's arms, and push him off the bed onto the floor. He hit's the floor quietly, and lets out a soft moan of being woken up by the impact of the hard floor.

Yuzu bursts through the door. "Come on Karin, get up. We have to get you ready for the ball, it's only a week away!" she is too excited in the mornings. "So Karin, who has asked you to the ball? Or are you just going to dance with the an extra white knight?" Yuzu asks me curiously, eyes wide.

I hesitate. I want to say that Toshiro is, but he hasn't asked me yet. I wonder if he just assumes that we are going together, or maybe he asked someone else. With the thought of him asking an other girl makes my blood boil. I force myself to calm down, not wanting Yuzu to sense my mood, not wanting Toshiro to sense my spiritual energy rise. "No one has asked me yet," I answer her. I lean against the headboard, wondering what Toshiro thinks about this conversation.

Yuzu looks at me in surprise. "Really? I thought that Tadashi would have asked you. I hear he has a thing for you," Yuzu tells me in a sing song voice. She giggles then winks at me.

I'm shocked. Tadashi is a really smart nice guy with sandy blonde hair and a huge smile. He is popular too, everyone is nice to him and he is really nice to everyone in return. He is great in all the sports, and I hear that he is the fastest on the track team. But even if he did ask me, I would have to turn him down. I wouldn't want to give him false hope, I like Toshiro and I want to go to the dance with him.

I pretend that I didn't hear her say anything about Tadashi .I get off the bed with a quick glance at Toshiro, who is currently under some fallen blankets. "Okay I'm up now. I'll be downstairs in a few," I yawn in mid sentence. Yuzu nods and leaves the room, closing the door behind her.

Once we hear Yuzu downstairs, Toshiro sits up pushing the blankets off of himself. He puts the blankets on the bed. He stands up saying, "That was an interesting conversation."

I walk to my dresser to get some clean clothes to change into. "Uh, yeah," I say with a slight stutter. Why hasn't he asked me to the ball yet? I don't get it, and I'm not a patient person. I want to ask him why, but I don't want to sound desperate. If he wants to ask me, then he will when he wants to. I reach for the door knob, and turn back to smile at him. "I'll be back later," I walk out of our room.

At the mall Yuzu and I go into what seems like a million stores. We have looked at every single ball gown at every store that we have been to. I can't seem to find the right one. They are either too big, or not the right shade, or just over all not my style.

We have already been at the mall for about two hours, and we haven't bought any accessories yet either. Yuzu said that the accessories had to wait until after we buy the dress, that way everything can look great together.

We go into a huge store called Spectacular and Beautacious. It has tuxes, suits, and many formal gowns. Right when we step into the store, my eyes get glued to the very back. I walk straight to it, not even taking a glance at the other gowns. It is a beautiful shade of turquoise, with sparkles at the bottom to outline it. It has a fitted chest, then it fluffs out like a princess dress. I look at the tag inside of it, it's just my size.

"Wow, it's beautiful. You must try it on!" Yuzu squeals behind me.

I nod, and walk to one of the changing stalls. It fits me perfectly. The fitted chest makes me look a little bit more chestier than I really am. The way it fluffs out, makes it look like I have nice curves. Turquoise looks good on me, and it matches nicely with Toshiro's teal eyes. This is the dress for me. We pay for the dress with the money that dad gave us, and went to search for accessories.

When we get home, I go up to my room and neatly place the ball gown in an empty place in my dresser. Just as I put it in, Toshiro opens the closet door. He is wearing the same thing that he wore the first time that we met. He's wearing gray pants and a navy blue shirt, that has the number 46 on his breast pocket.

"Want to go for a walk with me?" he asks.

"A walk would be nice," I reply smiling at him.

We walk along a forest trail until we get to a meadow, it's similar to the one in the Soul Society. It's a very secluded area, it's a good spot to tell him about Haruki Nakaie. At least here, people won't hear us arguing.

I have totally forgotten that this meadow was here. The rushing water from the beautiful waterfall, makes a peaceful sound that puts me at ease. The aroma coming from the flower blossoms smell nice, giving the meadow more of the peaceful vibe.

"Lets stay here for a while," Toshiro suggests. He sits down, leaning against a tree near the waterfall. I sit down next to him, leaning on the same tree, but looking in a different direction. He takes my hand, making me tingle. "Karin Kurosaki," he pauses for a slight moment. "It would be my greatest pleasure, if you would allow me to accompany you to the Debutant Ball."

I am so happy that he finally asked me. I am also very relieved that he hasn't asked some other girl. "That would be great," I tell him excitedly, grinning like a fool.

Then I remember that I have to tell him about Haruki, this isn't going to be pleasant. "Um, Toshiro, I have to tell you something. But you must promise that you won't over react."

Toshiro looks worried. "Karin, what's wrong?" he asks.

"You have to promise." Oh no, his amazing teal eyes have captured mine, I can't look away.

"Karin, tell me," he says in a hard but soft tone.

I break our gaze, and look down at the ground, I don't want to see his reaction. "Okay," I say quietly. "Somebody has threatened me. He said that something terrible that I won't like will happen at the ball."

His fingers go under my chin to lift my head up. His hard eyes capture mine once again. In a cold angry voice he says one word, "Who?"

That's when it all spills out of me. How Haruki Nakaie is some kind of soul reaper. How he somehow knows things about me, about us. How he kept appearing to ask me to be his Queen of Darkness. He is the reason why the hollows have increased. My nightmare about Haruki ruling the world while I was watching people die, how I saw Haruki behead Toshiro. Finally I told Toshiro that the last time I saw Haruki Nakaie, he was angry and said that something terrible will happen at the ball, just to encourage me to become his queen.

I start to cry, Toshiro pulls me into a tight embrace. "You can't go to the ball anymore," Toshiro says in a sad but firm tone.

I pull back from him to look into his eyes, still holding onto him. I can only imagine how bad I must look right now, with my tear streaked face. "But I have to go. I have already bought my dress, dad won't let me back out now. What if something happens there anyways, and we have to stop whatever happens?" I protest.

He thinks about it for a minute. "You're right, something bad could happen even if we aren't there. I'll just put extra security around the perimeter. We have to be on alert," he says nodding to his idea.

He stands up. "Come on, lets go back, it's almost dinner time," he holds his hand out to pull me up. When I'm on my feet I start to pull my hand away, but he has a firm hold on it. We start walking back the way we came from.

Just as we get into view of the house, Ichigo comes outside. He looks the way he always does, his hair a mess and a scowl on his face. He looks at us in the eyes, then his eyes wonders down to see mine and Toshiro's hands entwined. His eyes widen in shock, and his scowl deepens. He flash steps in front of us. "What the hell do you think you're doing with my little sister?" he yell at Toshiro.

"We went for a walk, Kurosaki," Toshiro tells Ichigo in a cold tone. "In fact, I will be accompanying Karin to the Debutant Ball this upcoming Saturday evening."

"The hell you will! I won't let a midget have his grubby hands all over my baby sister!"

I take a step forwards towards my brother, who is practically blowing out steam. "Ichigo calm down. I want to go to the ball with Toshiro. Shouldn't you feel better knowing that Toshiro is taking me, instead of some random guy that you don't know?" I say trying to calm him down.

He takes a deep breath to calm down a bit. His scowl still on his face. "I still don't like it."

"You don't have to like it, you just have to deal with it," I tell him. "Come on Toshiro, lets go inside," I pull on Toshiro's hand to get him to follow me. We leave Ichigo outside to let him do whatever he was going to do before he saw us.


	10. Chapter 10

Ch.10

It is the day after I told Toshiro about Haruki. There are more hollows attacks, so he had to go fight. He didn't want to leave me, with the thought that Haruki could appear again and maybe take me by force. But Toshiro had to leave in order to save lives.

I tell Yuzu that I am going for a walk., and will be back in a bit. The sun is about to set, so I decide to walk to a railing on a hill. that's where I had met Toshiro for the second time. He had told me that this spot is was the best place to look at the sky, he was right. From this spot, the sky looks absolutely stunning.

While I watch the sunset, I think about the day that I found out that Toshiro is a soul reaper.

Flashback

My friends and I were playing a soccer match against snobby middle schoolers who thought that they owned the field, just because they are older. We had asked Toshiro to play with us, but he didn't give us a definite answer.

I was about to score the first goal, that's when the older kids decided to play dirty. The kid who I had made the bet with slid in front of me to get the ball, making me fall and injure my leg badly. He did it on purpose, wanting us to loose so they could have the field whenever they wanted.

I had told my friends that I was okay, and that it was just a scratch. But it wasn't just a scratch, my leg was instantly bruised and was swollen, it hurt to put any pressure on it. The kid who had tripped me started to laugh, and make fun of me. He was surprised when I said that I was still going to play.

My friends started to complain, saying that since I was hurt we were sure to loose. One of my friends started to freak out, pointing into the distance. Behind the dusty wind was Toshiro Hitsugaya, coming our way.

Once Toshiro had reached us, we were all excited that he had finally arrived to play the game. We were sure to win now that Toshiro helping us. He had said that he hadn't came to play with us. But when he saw my injured leg, he agreed to help us.

Toshiro is an amazing soccer player, he was owning the field. He scored enough goals to get us tied with the middle schoolers. When it was time to make the winning goal, he passed me the ball. he said that since I was the captain of the team, it was only right for me to score the winning goal.

We won the match. The middle schoolers left the field with their heads down low in shame, shocked that they had lost to a bunch of grade schoolers. Just as they left the area, a huge hollow appeared. My friends fell to the ground, unconscious because of the hollow's spiritual pressure.

I was scared of what could happen. Worried about my friends, hoping that they would be okay. I run to the soccer ball that was near me, and kicked it as hard as I could at the hollow. It had exploded on the hollow's mask, but it was as if the hollow hadn't felt it, like it was just a harmless bug flying near it.

The hollow noticed me, it was coming in for the kill. I closed my eyes tightly, waiting for my painful death. The pain never came. I opened my eyes to see Toshiro standing in front of me. He was in the same black kimono as Ichigo, and he was wearing a white coat that was flying behind him from the wind.

Toshiro had capture the hollow's fist before it could make contact with me. Is it possible that he could be a soul reaper just like Ichigo? I had asked myself. A red beam appeared in the hollows mouth. "A cero," Toshiro had said to himself. He had jumped into the air, and cut the hollow in half before it could fire the cero. The hollow was frozen. Ice the size of hail, had hit my hands as the hollow had slit in half and disintegrated.

End of flashback

My thoughts are interrupted by a near by hollow. I can feel how close it is. I sigh while I get off of the railing. I think I will go fight it, its about time I do some more training. I start to run towards it.

I sneak up behind it, it is huge and grotesque. It must have sensed my spiritual pressure, because it turns towards me and shoots a cero. I wasn't expecting it, I just barely had enough time to jump out of the way to avoid getting hit. There is a huge explosion behind me where the cero had hit.

I try to hit it with my kido, but it moves quickly to the side, making me miss. It swings its huge claws at me, making deep gashes in my right arm. Hot sticky blood oozes down my arm. The blood drips quickly to the ground. The loss of blood starts to make me a bit light headed.

Seeing my hesitation, the hollow swings again. I close my eyes tightly, trying to vision the hollow in an ice box. The blow doesn't happen, I open my eyes. Opening my eyes was the wrong move to make. I get dizzy, loosing my concentration. The hollow unfreezes, its claws hit my stomach. I try to bite my scream off, it echoes a few times. I double over, falling to my knees.

I press my hand to my stomach, flinching at the pain. I remove my hand to see it covered in sticky blood. I press my hand to the wound again, tying to stop the bleeding. My vision starts to go blurry. I'm sure I'm about to die, the hollow isn't even injured. I couldn't hit it.

A fuzzy being appears in front of me, facing the hollow. I take in the black kimono, white captains jacket, and the snowy white hair. Toshiro has came to save me. I collapse onto the cold hard ground. Everything goes black.

I wake up on damp dirt. I look a round, I'm in the greenest forest that I have ever seen. The trees are tall and a deep shade of green. Am I really awake? I couldn't be, I was just badly injured in a fight against a hollow. How could I be in a forest? Maybe I am dead and this is my heaven, or something.

"Don't be silly dear," a soft voice says from the distance. "You are alive, but just barely. You're in your inner world," she tells me.

I stand up, startled. where is this voice coming from? I wonder. "Um, if you don't mind me asking, what do you mean my 'inner world'? and who are you?" I ask confused at everything.

She comes out from behind a tree, laughing. She is beautiful. Her long black waist length hair frames her face nicely. She is fit, wearing a long dark green dress that reaches the ground. Her eyes matches he dress, the colour of the grass and trees. "Your inner world my dear, is a place where you go to when your injured, or sometimes when you are unconscious. It's where you talk and train with your zanpakuto. So as you can see, I am she.

I am still confused. "But only soul reapers have zanpakutos. I am just a human," I tell the lady standing in front of me.

She moves closer to me. Her movements are like how grass moves in the wind. "Child, have you forgotten that you come from a soul reaper family? Your brother is now the soul reaper captain of the fifth squad. Not to mention your father, the previous captain of the tenth squad. You will one day become one as well," she pauses for a slight moment. "in fact, you will have great power one day. Perhaps you will even surpass the head captain, it is possible."

I take all of what she said in, stunned at the last part. Could I really be that strong? That must be why Haruki Nakaie wants me to be his queen of darkness. If I really do end up with that much power, I'd be pretty much invincible.

I just remember something. Ichigo always talks about his zanpakuto's name and its powers. I still don't know my zanpakuto's name. "Excuse me, I was just wondering, what is your name?"

She smiles politely at me. "I am sorry, but I cannot tell you. You are nowhere near strong enough to find out yet. At this point, you are only strong enough to communicate with me. But you are not at the level of knowing my name and using my powers yet. When that day gets here, you will come to me in this state of mind again. I will train you, and you will learn how to control my powers. But until that day, I will remain at the back of your mind, guiding you to where you must go,

"Beware of the near future, for there will be danger. It will always be lurking in the shadows, wanting the powers that one day you will possess. But right now, you must wake up in order to stay alive. If you die, so will I. farewell Karin kurosaki, stay strong."

Both the lady in green and the forest dissolve into nothing, as I enter back into the real world. I slowly open my eyes to find that I am in Urahara's shop. Orihime's hands are above me, her glowing healing shield radiating warmth.

I hear voices. I look to my right to see Toshiro and Ichigo talking. By the look on Ichigo's face, he is upset. But maybe it's just the permanent scowl on his face.

My eyes are heavy, I can't keep them open. Once again, everything goes dark as I fall asleep.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: sorry it took a while to update. I'm swamped in homework and I have baseball now, so it might take a bit longer to update now. But I will try to update as fast as I can. Thanks to those who has been reviewing. Pease review, I like to know your thoughts and opinions on this, and if you have any ideas for upcoming chapters, it would be nice to hear them. Thanks J

Ch.11

My attack was on Sunday, and it is now Thursday. Toshiro has been keeping a close eye on me, like a hawk, ever since my near death experience. I didn't expect a hollow that looked so regular, to be so powerful. That spiritual power was weighing me down.

We were walking by the park, when we heard our names being called. We look over to see a bunch of kids from our class. They are holding gloves and a bat.

"Toshiro! Karin! Come play softball with us."

We walk closer to them. For once, I was the one who objected instead of Toshiro. "Sorry guys, I actually don't really know how to play softball," I say sheepishly.

Some of the guys look shocked, because I'm good at every sport that we play. "How about you Toshiro?"

"Sure, sounds fun. Come one Karin, I'll show you how to play," he pauses for a moment. "As some people say, it's easy breezy lemon squeezy," he says uncertainly.

I start to laugh. I can't believe that he just said that saying, it's so not like him to say that. "Since when have you played ball?" I ask him still laughing.

He thinks about it for a moment. "Some of the guys organizes a game once a month. I can only play about once every three months though, because Matsumoto always doesn't do her portion of the paper work, and of course all the paper work has to be done first," he tells me with a sigh.

"Toshiro and Karin, you will both be on Junichi's team," Katsumi informs us.

Kenshin tosses us leather gloves as we go into the out field. Toshiro explains the rules to me just before we go into our positions. I take center field, the position behind second base, and Toshiro takes left field, the position behind third base. This part shouldn't be too hard. I just have to catch the ball and throw it in, and I've thrown a ball before and people have said that I have a good arm.

Tadao is up to bat. He is wearing silky black shorts, that go to the middle of his knee cap, and a dark green shirt. His helmet is covering up his short light brown hair. His legs are shoulder width apart, with his knees slightly bent. His hands are at the bottom of the bat, with his hands touching and his knuckles all in line.

Takumi circles his arm above his head, down to his hip and releases the ball. He did that in sync with stepping forward with his front foot, and dragging his back foot up.

Tadao swings the bat across his body in a straight line, while he steps forward with his front foot. He miss the ball.

"Strike one!" Takumi exclaims. The ball flying back to him, he catches it in his glove. He narrows his eyes at the ball as he turns around to face Tadao. He does exactly what he just did. He circles his hand over his head, back down to his hip, and releases it with power that makes it go fast.

This time when Tadao steps and swings, the bat makes hard contact with the ball. The ball flies out into the out field. Tadao starts running to the bases. The ball flies just over Toshiro's head. Toshiro runs to get the ball, and throws it to third base. Tadao is stuck on second base so he won't get out on third.

Now Sora is up to bat. On the first swing, he hits it up high into the sky, right above me. The guys on my team are cheering for me to catch it. My arm is up by my head, to catch the ball before it hits it. I shift a little to the tight and forward, then back two steps. It's getting closer. I feel the ball hit the glove that I'm using, I quickly put my right hand on top of it to prevent it from falling out. I hold the ball for a split second before I throw it to second base. It's a double play. I caught the pop fly, causing the batter to be out, and Tadao doesn't get back to second base quick enough, causing him to get out too.

The next couple of guys that bat end up getting to home base, getting points for their team. Takumi finally strikes somebody out, and since we got three out, we get to go up to bat now.

Takashi puts on a helmet, and walks up to home base. His method is like Tadao's, bent knees, elbows up, and knuckles together. Tadao pitches the ball. Takashi hit's the ball on the first swing. It goes towards short-stop, he makes it to first base.

Next up is Tadashi. I notice that they all have the same stances as each other, maybe that's how we all are supposed to stand like. He hit's the ball into the out field, getting to second base while Takashi runs to home base.

I put on a helmet and stand on deck, I'm up next after Raiden. I start to practise swinging the bat while I watch the ball. I feel cold hands on top of mine on the bat.

"You're not doing it right," Toshiro tells me, his breath tickling my face. "Bend your knees a bit more." One of his hands trails slowly up my arm, causing me to inwardly shiver. He places his hand on my elbow to raise it up some more. He places his hand back on top of mine. He moves our hands across our bodies to swing the bat. "Just like that," he tells me.

"Get a room you two," Mitsuru tells us.

A bunch of the guys laugh at the remark. I look to second base, Tadashi is glaring daggers at Toshiro. Toshiro backs away from me to go sit back on the bench with the guys. I feel a faint blush creep across my cheeks.

Raiden hits the ball, but not very far. He gets out at first base while Tadashi gets to third. It's my turn now. I walk up to home base, and hold the bat above it to make sure I'm in the right spot. I widen my legs a little bit, to make them shoulder width apart. I bend my knees, and get my hands and elbows in the position they should be. I think to myself, shoulders and knees, those are the boundaries. I wait for the pitch.

Tadao pitches the ball. It's fast, but it's high. I notice that the ball is above my shoulders, and don't swing the bat. If I get four of that kind of pitch, then I get to go to first base. If I don't, then I'll either have to hit it, strike out, or hit the ball and still get out. I am hoping to hit the ball and get on base.

Tadao pitches fast again. It's right in the middle. I swing the bat, but I'm to slow. "Strike one!" Tadao exclaims. He pitches once again. I'm not ready for it. I hurriedly swing the bat, making contact with the ball. It flies out to right field. For a split second, I watch the ball fly in the sky. I run to first base and realize that I have enough time to make it to second, so I do so. I arrive on base just before Junichi could tag me out.

A few more guys on my team bat. Their hits are enough to get me to home base. We get five runs in, getting in the lead. Since we got five in, it is now our turn to go back on the field.

It is pretty much the same as the last time we were on the field. Being on the field is kind of boring, it's funner being up to bat. They get a couple runs in, making us tide.

The sky is turning gray as black clouds start rolling in. A few rain drops fall on my arms. The rain starts coming faster, pouring down. Thunder roars in our ears, with a quick flash of lightning.

"Game's over, lets call it a tie and go home," Mitsuru tells us all.

Everybody goes back to the bench to pack up their things. I help pack things up, too, since I was participating in the game. Nobody is in a hurry to get home, despite the storm that is starting up.

I'm standing right by Tadashi/ he quickly glances to Toshiro, then back to his duffle bag that has all of his equipment in it. "Hey, Karin," he says getting my attention. "Can I walk you home?"

I hesitate, looking over his shoulder to look at Toshiro. Toshiro gives me a forced nod, signalling that he'll meet me at home. "Yeah, sure," I accept Tadashi's offer.

We walk to my house in silence. The only noise being the roaring thunder, and the rain pattering on the ground. The cars barely audible over the storm.

We finally arrive in front of my house, both of us are soaking wet. We walk up to the door, still haven't said a word. "Thanks for walking me home," I smile at him.

He takes my hand in his. He raises it to his lips, and kisses it. "Karin, it is my pleasure," he pauses, letting my hand go. "Karin Kurosaki, if no one has asked you yet, I would like to be your escort to the upcoming ball."

I stand right in front of him, staring at him, flabbergasted. I hadn't expected him to ask me, and the ball is only a couple days away. I give myself a mental shake, and regain my composure. "Tadashi, thank you for asking me, but I have already accepted somebody else's offer. I'm sorry."

"It's Hitsugaya isn't it?" he asks in a slightly angry tone. "The way he was all over you at the game, marking his territory. It's obvious that it is him."

I let my head drop, looking at the ground. "Yes, it is Toshiro who I am going with. But he wasn't marking anything," I say firmly, looking back up at him. He now has a scowl on his face.

Right at that moment, my father decides to open the door. "Oh my! My little Karin is with a boy! This must mean she's getting married!" my dad exclaims joyously.

I punch him in the face. Dad holds his reddening cheek, with fake tears in his eyes. I turn to Tadashi. He looks a bit freaked out, anyone who meets my dad gets freaked out, especially when he mentions marriage. We are way too young to get married.

"Sorry about that, Tadashi. He's like this with everybody," I apologized, embarrassed of my father's behaviour.

"Oh Karin! My beautiful daughter, why must you always hurt daddy?" he fake cries.

"Because you're very immature. I'll stop when you grow up," I tell him, justifying my actions.

Dad stops crying. He just notices that it's storming, and Tadashi and I are soaking wet. "Oh my! You're both soaked to the bone! Come on in my boy, and dry off while the storm calms down."

Tadashi hesitates. "Um, no thanks. I should be getting home, my mom will be getting worried," he declines the offer.

Dad looks like he is heart broken, then quickly snaps out of it. He snaps his fingers like he has a brilliant idea. "Nonsense my boy, we'll just call your lovely mother hen from the house phone. I shall tell her that we will ensure your safety here. He pushes Tadashi into the house, knowing that if he touches me, I'll punch him in the face again.

"Here's some of Ichigo's old clothes. You can change in the washroom, down the hall, the first door on the right. I'll go call your lovely mother to let her know that you are safe here," dad walks to the kitchen phone while Tadashi goes to change.

I quickly but silently run up the stair to my room. Toshiro is laying on my bed with his legs crossed, reading a book called Holes. He looks up from the book smiling at me, his beautiful eyes shining. When he sees my expression, his changes from happy to puzzled.

I close my door and go towards him, so nobody will hear us talking. "Tadashi is here," I tell him. I go to sit beside him on my bed, but then realize that I am still wet.

He looks disappointed. "Oh," he sounds kind of sad, as if I changed my mind about him.

"My dad insisted that he says here until the storm passes," I explain to him. "I'm not changing my mind about anything," I ensure him, smiling. I lean in and kiss him on the cheek.

I go to my dresser to get some dry clothes. I decide to just change into my pyjamas, I'm not going anywhere else tonight. Once I'm done changing, I decide to go back downstairs. I can't just leave Tadashi down there all alone, with my dad. What a disaster that would be. Poor Tadashi would be scarred for life if I left him alone with dad for too long.

Dad just gets off of the phone when I enter the living room. Tadashi is sitting on the couch looking awkward, like he doesn't know what to do. I just rejected him, and now he is forced to stay here for a while with me and my creepy dad.

I just sit down on the couch next to Tadashi, when my dad comes in smiling creepily. This cannot be good. "Amazing youthful children, I have just talked to young Tadashi's mother hen. Considering that Tadashi is going to be my new son, he is allowed to stay here until the storm has past."

The phone rings, stopping dad from saying anything else. He leaves the living room to go back to the kitchen to get the phone. I can hear him saying in a serious tone, "Uh huh, uh huh, alright. Yes, right away. I'm on my way, I'll be there as fast as I can." He hangs up the phone, and comes back to tell us what is going on. "I have to go to the clinic. There was an accident, and the patients will be arriving soon," he picks up his jacket from the chair and puts it on. "I'll probably be back late, so don't wait up. Goodnight kids," and with that, he leave the house.

There is no school tomorrow, so Yuzu is at a sleep over and Ichigo is in the Soul Society. That leaves me and Tadashi alone downstairs, while Toshiro is secretly in my room. What a great night this will be, note the sarcasm.

I turn to face him. "The power hasn't gone out yet, how about we watch a movie?" I ask, breaking the silence between us.

"Yeah, a movie sounds good," he replies nodding.

I walk over to the shelf that has the movies on it, and search for a good one to watch. "The Notebook, too girly. Mhmm I Know What You Did Last Summer, lame. A Cinderella Story, too Yuzu. Huh, Prom Night, it's kind of lame, but I haven't watched it for a while." I put it into the DVD player, and go sit back down beside Tadashi.

We are at the part where they are in the hotel for prom, and the main girl goes back to her room to get something. Of course the crazy murderer comes into her room to get her, and she hides under the bed.

"Oh come on! Not under the bed, that's the most obvious hiding spot! She should really stop hiding there," I complain about the girls' unintelligent hiding place.

My eyelids are getting really heavy by the time the cops search the hotel top to bottom. I should go up to my room, but I'm too tired that I have no strength. I cuddle up to the warmth absentmindedly, as I fall into the familiar darkness of sleep.

I wake up to the sun streaming in through the window. With my eyes still closed, I wiggle closer to the warm thing beside me. I feel it move and hear it yawn, right I forgot that Tadashi is still here. I realize that my head is on his chest. I quickly move away from him, opening my eyes to see him watching me.

"Sorry," I apologize to him. Somehow, I just know that he doesn't mind the slightest bit that we were cuddling with each other. But I mind, I'm with Toshiro not Tadashi. If I'm going to cuddle with anybody, then it should only be with Toshiro.

"Good morning," he grins at me.

After we eat breakfast, Lucky Charms, I go to the laundry room to retrieve Tadashi's now dried clothes. "Here you go," I say handing them over to him.

"Thanks," he walks off to the washroom to go change. Before he's out of sight, he pulls off his shirt, revealing his bare back to me. Before I can get more than just a glimpse, he turns into the washroom, disappearing from sight.

He comes back out, looking mice and clean. "Thanks for having me over, but I think my mom would want me to come home now," he says with a sigh.

I walk him to the door. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow at the ball," I say awkwardly, thinking about what he said about Toshiro. I open up the door.

He leans in, but instead of a hug, he gives me a peck on the cheek. "See you tomorrow," he walks out of the door to go home.

I close the door behind him, and start to go up the stairs to my room to explain to Toshiro why I wasn't in bed last night.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: Sorry for taking so long with this chapter, I was and still am swamped with homework. I was also writing this chapter when I shouldn't have been, because I wanted to get this chapter published before my birthday, May 18. Sorry to inform you, but there will only be two more chapters, but there will be two more stories after this one. Hope you enjoy!

Ch. 12

I open my door. Toshiro isn't on the bed, and the closet door is closed except for a little crack. I walk to the closet to see if he is in there, and open the door. He is reading that book again with a miniature light. He looks bored, but i can see sadness in his eyes.

I sit down on the ground beside him. "Tadashi is gone now," I tell him in a soft tone. I feel kind of guilty, but I shouldn't. I didn't do anything wrong, so I shouldn't be feeling like this.

Still looking at his book he says, "I know. I felt his spiritual pressure leave the house."

"Nothing happened. I mean, with Tadashi and I. You must know that I wouldn't do that to you. I wouldn't do that at all. We were watching a movie, and we fell asleep," I explain to him.

He looks into my eyes. He looks hurt and sad. "I saw you both cuddling together. You looked so comfortable, and at peace in his arms."

Oh, I see now. "But that was in my sleep. Toshiro, the way I feel about you, I cannot put into words. I think the world of you, you're so amazing. You make my heart beat change speeds, and leave me breathless. I want you, not Tadashi, not anybody else. Just you," I lean in to give him a kiss. At first, he was just being stubborn and not kissing back. He slowly starts to kiss back, turning it into a sweet passionate kiss. When we break apart, we are smiling at each other, panting hard. I lean back in, and give him a quick peck. "See, just you," I whisper to him.

I wake up in the morning to Yuzu pounding on my door. I quickly turn around in Toshiro's arms, and push him and some of the blankets onto the floor. He thumps onto the floor, letting out a muffled moan.

Yuzu bursts into the room. "Karin! Get up, we must get ready for the ball!" she exclaims. Why must she be so excited in the mornings? She could at least have the decency to take her enthusiasm out of my room.

I let out a moan. "But Yuzu, it is only 8am in the morning. The ball doesn't even start until 8pm tonight. That gives us ten hours to get ready, I don't think we nee that much time." I grab the pillow beside me, and put it on my face to block the light.

Yuzu walks over to my side of the bed, and pulls the pillow away from my face. She takes my hand, and starts to pull me up. "Come on! It's going to take nearly all day to get ready. We don't want to be late just because you're too tired to get up," she tugs on my hand a little harder now.

I sigh, "Fine, I'll get up now. What kind of torture are you going to put me through first?" I ask, not really wanting to know. This girly thing just isn't my thing, I like my tomboyish ways better.

Yuzu is wearing a huge smile on her face. In books, it would be described that it went from ear to ear, well I think so anyways. "We'll be doing your hair first, that way it will be easier to do you make up. Hurry up and take a shower," she says excitedly. "Where did you put your dress? We will need it later," she asks walking towards the closet, nearing where Toshiro is hiding under the blankets.

"It's not in the closet, it's in my dresser," I say making her stop and look back at me. "The closet is too full to hang it up," which isn't a lie.

Yuzu walks back towards me, turning her back on Toshiro and the closet, where Toshiro's original bed is. "It could get wrinkles in the dresser, silly," she playfully scolds me. "All well, we can always iron it if need be." She skips a few steps, with a smile still on her face, to my dresser. As if reading my mind, she opens the right dour to my beautiful turquoise ball gown. "You are going to look so amazing in this!" she squeals.

I grin at her. "I know, that's why I picked it. Just give me a minute, and then I'll go take a shower."

"Okay, make it quick. We have a lot of work to do today," she says just before leaving the room with my dress.

Toshiro comes out from under the blankets. "Please kill me now," I plead to him.

"Nope. You better go get ready, and not make me wait forever at the door," he smirks.

I laugh. "You just don't want my dad to attack you while you're waiting for me," i stick my tongue out at him.

He lets out a low chuckle. "I think you may be right."

I walk a couple steps towards him to give him a quick peck on the cheek. "I'll see you later," for some reason I decide to wink at him. I turn on my heel, and walk out of the room to start getting ready for tonight. Some would call it fun, I call it torture.

After my shower, Yuzu makes me put in some leave in conditioner. Instead of just towel drying my hair, Yuzu insists on blow drying it for me. She says that I have wasted too much time, and it will catch us up on the time limit. She burns my ear a couple times with it, and instantly apologizes.

Yuzu plugs something in behind me. My curiosity gets to me. "What are you doing now?" I ask.

"I am now going to curl your hair, silly. I've read that many girls curl their hair for debutant balls. My hair is too short to curl, and I think you will look so lovely with curled hair," she rants.

After about half an hour of pulling my hair and burning my head, Yuzu finally finishes curling my hair. It took a lot longer than I thought it would have. She sprays some hairspray on my head, and waits for a few minutes for it to dry. Once the hairspray is dry, Yuzu starts to pull my now curled hair up. She is leaving a curl out on both sides of my face.

"Umm, Yuz, what are you doing to my head now? Haven't you done enough to my head already?" I ask her, wincing a little when she pulls my hair up some more.

"Karin, have you not heard a word I've said? I told you that I've read somewhere that debutants usually have their hair in neat buns," she tells me.

I think I must have zoned out at that part. "Oh, sorry, I wasn't paying much attention." More like no attention at all. "Can I look in the mirror now?" I am starting to wonder what she is doing up there.

"Nope. Not yet, you can look when everything is finished," she answers me. I am just fine with her answer. I don't really care about looks, and with Yuzu helping me, I know I'll look good. "Alright, now that your hair is done, I can start doing your make up," she goes to her desk to get something. "Okay, close your eyes now."

I do what I am told. I feel a huge fluffy circle on my face that has powder on it. Needing to breathe, I inhale whatever powder that is on it. I start coughing once it is off of my face. I stop coughing, and then I sneeze a couple times. "Yuzu, are you trying to kill me? What was that stuff?" I ask her, trying to figure out what she attacked me with.

"It's called cover up," she simply tells me. "Okay, time for mascara. Don't blink until I tell you to. Keep your eyes open."

"Umm, okay..." I have never worn make up before today. I have no clue what she will be doing to me. I see a black eye brush coming towards me. I close my eyes and flinch backwards, not wanting it to poke me in the eye.

"Karin, I told you to keep your eyes open," Yuzu scolds.

I open one eye to see a slightly frustrated and frowning face. I sigh, and open my other eye. I blink once more before the mascara brush attacks my eyelashes.

Yuzu holds it right in front of my eyelash. "Okay, blink." I do what she says, immediately feeling the mascara weighing down my lashes. We repeat this multiple times on each eye.

After the mascara and thinking that it would poke me in the eye, Yuzu starts attacking me with what seems to be a black pencil crayon. "Hold still, and don't blink," she tells me for the fifth time. This time I don't protest, I just want this over quickly. She traces the black pencil crayon, supposedly called eye liner, on my lower eyelid really close to my eyeball. "Now close your eyes, and don't flinch." As I close my eyes, she starts tracing the eyeliner on my top eyelid.

By the time Yuzu is done with me, 1:30pm in the afternoon. People would think that since I am done getting ready I could go, but nope. I have to stay and watch Yuzu get ready. I still haven't looked in the mirror yet, Yuzu still won't let me until we're both done. Yuzu looks in the mirror while she does her hair. When I asked her why she gets to look in the mirror and I don't, she said that she can't do it with out a mirror. If I could do hair and make up, then she wouldn't have to look in the mirror.

When Yuzu is finally done, it is dinner time. We are going to get dad, I sometimes call him goat face, to make us some soya noodles and vegetables. Soya noodles and vegetables is my favourite food. We wear shorts and a tank top so we don't spill anything on our gowns.

"Oh, Karin! Yuzu! My brilliant little hens! You look so beautiful, give daddy a hug!" he exclaims. He races towards me; I punch him in the face. Goat face runs to the poster of our deceased mother. "My dearest wife Masaki! Why doesn't our little hen, Karin, let papa bear hug her?" he whines to the poster on his knees.

I sigh, ignoring him. He acts like this all the time; I don't know why I still pay any attention to him. Yuzu give him too much attention. I tell her not to, it only encourages him more.

After we eat dinner, it is time to do the finishing touches of getting ready for the ball. Yuzu and I climb up the stairs to go back to her room.

"I ironed your gown while you were in the shower this morning. Now it doesn't have any wrinkles. Be careful though, we don't want it to get anymore," Yuzu tells me.

"Oh, thanks Yuz," I smile at her, taking my dress from he closet. I put the gown on, trying not to wrinkle it or mess up my hair.

Yuzu goes to her closet to get her gown. She turns back to me with two pairs if high heels in her hands, one black and the other white. "Here you go. I saw them when I was with my friends, and thought that it would go well with your gown," she hands me the white pair of high heels.

"Wow, thank you Yuzu. They're perfect," I hug her. The door bell rings. We pull away from each other smiling, our dates have just arrived.

"Oh! One more thing before we got downstairs." She puts her hands on each side of my face, and pinches my cheeks.

"Ouch! What was that for?" I ask, lifting my hands up to touch my sore cheeks.

Yuzu giggles. "Sorry Karin, it just gives you more of a natural look for blush," she informs me.

We both put on our high heels, and open the bedroom door. We are instantly greeted by low murmurs. As we start to descend the stairs, we can here our father talking about the time when he went to the debutant ball with out mother.

When I get half way down the stairs, I can see Toshiro. His white hair, such a contrast to his black tuxedo and shiny black dress shoes. His white shirt under his teal tie matches both his hair and my high heels. His eyes shining when he sees me. His smile, his smile is the biggest smile that I've seen. When i get to the bottom of the stairs, he steps towards me. Toshiro takes my hand, and bows down to kiss it. "You look absolutely stunning," he tells me.

I smile at him, "Thank you."

We look over to Yuzu and her date, Tadao. Tadao is in a regular black tuxedo with a black tie. Yuzu looks like a princess, in her formal bright pink ball gown and a bow clip in her hair. Her make up makes her eyes more noticeable and beautiful.

"Oh my darling little hens! Are you sure you don't want daddy to drive you to the school?" goat face asks us.

"That's okay dad. It's not very far to the school, and the fresh air is nice," I tell him before Yuzu can accept his offer. I take Toshiro's hand, and lightly tug on it. "Come on you guys, we don't want to be late. Bye dad," I wave to him over my shoulder.

"My darling little hens are growing up," I hear goat face sob as we leave.

When we arrive at the school gym, it's like it's not even a gym. There are parents at small round tables, with red and white table cloths. There are lights hanging nicely from the walls, and some lanterns hanging from the ceiling. There are black velvet stairs leading off of the stage. There are also lights on the side of the stairs, to light them up.

"Girls go to the left, boys go to the right. Stay there until you get introduced," Yui, the coordinator who organized this, informs us.

We say our goodbyes for now, and do what we are told. There must be about forty girls at the back right of the stage. They are all wearing different types of styled gowns, which probably match their personality.

It starts. Through the speakers we hear, "Yuuki Takanawa, escorted by Madsuda Hagino." The parents at the tables clap as the couple go out on stage.

It goes on for a while. It goes by grade instead of alphabetical. The announcer calls out Yuzu and Tadao. Before Yuzu goes out, she gives me a quick hug. I know that she is doing it out of excitement, and to support me for when I go up. She goes on stage with a huge smile on her face.

I am up right after Yuzu. It is getting harder to breathe. Then I hear it. "Karin Kurosaki, escorted by Toshiro Hitsugaya." I take a breath, and walk onto the stage with a smile on my face to hide my nerves. The spotlight comes up as Toshiro and I step into the middle. He bows to me, and I curtsy back. We link arms while we walk down the velvet stairs. We sit at the same table at Yuzu and Tadao, to wait for the rest of the introductions to end.

After the rest of the debutants were introduced, we all get up from the tables to dance. As we get into dancing positions, the music begins. Everybody dances the waltz in unison. Toshiro and I dance so close to each other, that his breath tickles my face.

We dance the night away. I got so caught up in the music, the dancing, and his shining teal eyes, that I don't even notice that it is time to go home. People start drifting away, going out side for a walk or going home.

"Come on, let's go home," Toshiro whispers into my ear.

I look around for Yuzu, I don't see her. She must be on a walk with Tadao, or he could have already walked her home. I know that she wouldn't want to interrupt my only girly moment, just to tell me that she was walking around with Tadao. I nod to Toshiro. "Yeah, let's go," I smile at him. I'm glad that I signed up for this, it has been a blast. A way too girly blast, but still a blast.

It is a pleasant walk home. The beautiful shining stars are accompanied by the glowing full moon tonight. Toshiro and I walk in a comfortable silence, with our hands entwined.

When we get home, I get my pyjamas and go into the washroom. I take a look in the mirror for the first time all day. I am shocked at what I see, I look amazing. Even though I have looked like this all day, I still look incredible. My make up makes my eyes look outstanding, and more noticeable. My hair is in a neat little bun, with a curl framing the sides of my face, showing it off. The nicely fitting turquoise ball gown looks gorgeous on me.

I run the water to wash my face. I take the face cloth from the counter, and wipe off the entire make up from my face. After that, I take out my bun and comb my hair. Then I change into my pyjamas. When I get back to my room, I notice that Toshiro is asleep. I guess Haruki Nakaie was just bluffing after all. Nothing bad happened at the ball, he must have given up.

I decide to go to Yuzu's room, so we can talk about the ball. I know she is probably dying to tell me about her date with Tadao. I open her bedroom door to find it exactly how we left it, empty with no Yuzu. I see something white on her pink pillow, I walk over to it. It's a note.

The note says: If you want your twin sister back, come find me and be my queen. In return, I will reassure her safety and let her go free. P.S. come alone.

I crumple up the paper in my hand, and set it on fire with my kido. How dare he take my sister hostage! I toss the ashes into the garbage can by her desk. I go to the window, jump to the pear tree, and climb down to the ground. Time to get my sister back.


End file.
